Francesca Kay

'At least that post-Reformation sovereignty of the word still yields novels as richly imagined and skilfully crafted as this' The Spectator Longlisted for the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Longlisted in the 2024 HWA Crown Awards ANNO DOMINI 1546. In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing around her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul. As the days go by and the chapel takes shape, the outside world starts to intrude. But as the old ways are replaced by the new, the people of the village sense a dangerous freedom … Reader Reviews ‘A must read … Characters that one cares about, beautifully structured, a real page turner’ ‘A jewel of a book’ ‘Beautifully written’ ‘Atmospheric and compelling'

'At least that post-Reformation sovereignty of the word still yields novels as richly imagined and skilfully crafted as this' The Spectator Longlisted for the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Longlisted in the 2024 HWA Crown Awards ANNO DOMINI 1546. In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing around her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul. As the days go by and the chapel takes shape, the outside world starts to intrude. But as the old ways are replaced by the new, the people of the village sense a dangerous freedom … Reader Reviews ‘A must read … Characters that one cares about, beautifully structured, a real page turner’ ‘A jewel of a book’ ‘Beautifully written’ ‘Atmospheric and compelling'

Faith or delusion? Fantasy or fact? From the winner of the 2009 Orange New Writers Award comes a profound meditation on the nature of faith and a riveting story of religious passion gone tragically wrong in London. When word gets out that Mary-Margaret O'Reilly, a somewhat slow-witted but apparently harmless young woman, may have been witness to a miracle, religious mania descends on the Church of the Sacred Heart by the River Thames in Battersea, London. The consequences will be profound, not only for Mary-Margaret herself but for others too--Father Diamond, the parish priest, who is in the midst of his own lonely crisis of faith, and Stella Morrison, adrift in a loveless marriage and aching for her ten-year old son, away at boarding school. Meanwhile another mother, Alice Armitage, counts the days until her soldier son comes home from Afghanistan, and Mary-Margaret's mother, Fidelma, imprisoned in her tower block, stares out over London through her window for hour after hour with nothing but her thoughts for company. This is an exquisite novel about passion and isolation, about the nature of belief, about love and motherhood and a search for truth that goes tragically wrong. Mary-Margaret's desperate attempt to prove that Jesus loves her will change lives in a shocking way. Can anything that is good come out of it; can faith survive sacrifice and pain? Francesca Kay has crafted a novel that is by turns sly and profound. Her crystalline prose unlocks secrets about our capacity to believe and to love. She is a writer who surprises and delights with her language and her stories.

A searingly powerful novel about passion and isolation, about the nature of belief, about love and motherhood, for fans of Ali Smith and Maggie O'FarrellIn a church in Battersea, Mary-Margaret O'Reilly sees blood on her hands and believes she has witnessed a miracle. The consequences are both profound and devastating - not just for her but for others, too: Father Diamond, the parish priest, struggling with his own faith. Stella, adrift in her marriage and aching for her ten-year old son, away at boarding school. Alice, counting the days until her soldier son comes home. And Mary-Margaret's mother, imprisoned in a tower block with nothing but her thoughts for company... What happens to Mary-Margaret will send ripples through this tight community, raising questions about the nature of devotion - in all its forms - and the cost of loving in a confusing world.'Unfailingly gripping, filled with the essential ingredients - tension and emotion.' Patricia Duncker, LITERARY REVIEW'Beautifully musical sentences with carefully judged rhythms.' Philip Womack, DAILY TELEGRAPH'Skillfully constructed and beautifully written.' Peter Parker, SUNDAY TIMES

An outstanding debut novel about the conflicts of creativity and family and a love affair that survives against all the odds.