The Book of Secrets

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Crime Novel of the Year Award 2025! The thrilling and unputdownable new novel from bestselling author of The Clockwork Girl, Anna Mazzola! 'Vividly alive with menace, magic, and mystery' ESSIE FOX 'A vivid and atmospheric historical adventure' DAILY MAIL 'A writer of great variety and inventiveness. A haunting, complex work' THE TIMES Rome, 1659. Some secrets are worth dying for... Girolama Spana lives west of the river Tiber in a house marked by a lily and a garden full of herbs. Many women in Rome seek her help - although they would never admit it - eager for her mysterious balms, her love potions, and her ability to predict their futures. Even against the splendour of the Eternal City, Giroloma's secret recipes are the women's most precious possessions - and their husbands' most feared. So when men are reported dying in unnatural numbers, the gaze of Stefano Bracchi, prosecutor for the papal authorities, falls quickly on Girolama and her suspected sorcery. Soon she will face the greatest danger she has ever known - but Girolama has always vowed that in life there are secrets we write down, secrets we pass on, and some that we carry to our deaths... The Book of Secretsis inspired by real events that took place in 17th century Italy. Praise for The Book of Secrets: 'Exceptional. Anna Mazzola's finest work yet' ELODIE HARPER 'Dark, viscerally-atmospheric and richly-imagined' TAMMY COHEN 'Utterly compelling, brilliant and rage-inducing' CAROLINE LEA 'This gripping novel blends a colourful historical setting with the pace of a crime thriller' WOMAN'S WEEKLY 'Deeply unsettling in all the best ways. Absolutely loved it!' JAMES OSWALD 'Compelling and brilliantly atmospheric' ANDREW TAYLOR 'Rich and satisfying... another superb historical…