A Slow and Secret Poison

Atmospheric and delicious, A Slow and Secret Poison slowly unfolds its mysteries, taking in a 1920s sapphic love story, the class intrigue of The Little Stranger, and a reminder that some parts of the natural world are also poisonous. Carmella Lowkis has done it again with this deeply satisfying and gothic stunner.

author of All the White Spaces and Where the Dead Wait

A Slow and Secret Poison is one of the best gothic novels the genre has to offer. Twisty, erotic, and atmospheric, this one is sure to linger long after you have finished reading

author of Blood on Her Tongue and My Darling Dreadful Thing

Full of rich gothic decay and ratcheting tension, A Slow and Secret Poison is an incisive exploration of how privilege and class haunts us all. The sapphic love story kept me constantly guessing, even as twist after twist left me reeling. A lush, atmospheric delight.

Carmella Lowkis grew up in Wiltshire and has a degree in English literature and Creative Writing from the University of Warwick. After graduating, she worked in libraries, before moving into book marketing. Carmella lives in North London with her girlfriend. You can follow her on Twitter @carmellalowkis. Spitting Gold is her first novel.

'Carmella Lowkis has done it again with this deeply satisfying and gothic stunner' ALLY WILKES 
'One of the best gothic novels the genre has to offer' JOHANNA VAN VEEN 
'Full of rich gothic decay and ratcheting tension ... twist after twist left me reeling' DANIELLE GILES 
 
'We are cursed, here at Harfold, whether you believe in it or not.' 
 
1922, Wiltshire. When Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home, she's hoping for a fresh start where nobody knows her troubled history. 
 
But Harfold Manor is shadowed by grief and the memories of long-faded glory, its rooms haunted by the only surviving member of the family, Lady Arabella Lascy. Vee is fascinated by her enigmatic new employer, a woman obsessed with the curse she believes has killed her family one by one. A curse that is coming for her next. 
 
As Vee immerses herself in the world of Harfold, she finds herself increasingly entranced by Arabella and the secrets that poison her. 
 
But Vee has her own things to hide: secrets that caused her to flee Cardiff, secrets that estranged her from her own family, secrets that might finally catch up to her…

Carmella Lowkis

A tale of two sisters filled with spooky spirits, queer love, and high suspense

Set in nineteenth-century Paris, with the violence of the revolution in living memory, this is a wonderfully vivid and compelling gothic book. It is a real page turner, plunging you into the atmosphere of the time, and throwing up confusion as to who is deceiving who, after two sisters decide to go in for one last money-making hoax. Séances, sisterhood and dark secrets abound . . .

ELODIE HARPER, author of THE WOLF DEN and THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA

A compelling and atmospheric story of sisterhood and female agency, Spitting Gold is an evocative gothic tale where nothing is quite what it seems.

A clever, atmospheric and sparkling Gothic debut with compelling characters and brilliant prose. Reminded me of Sarah Waters.

Anna Mazzola, author of THE CLOCKWORK GIRL

Set in rain soaked 19th century Paris, Spitting Gold is tale of two sisters and a perfectly paced gothic heist. This world of spiritualist hucksters and scheming aristocrats is brilliantly evoked, and it's a story told with real heart.

Tim Leach, author of THE LAST KING OF LYDIA

Carmella Lowkis's confident debut twirls the reader into high society (and low) in a 19th century Paris deliciously recognisable in its modernity. Boasting a twisty plot, seances, sly humour, ghosts, a long con, and lesbians, the heart of the book is the affecting and frustrating relationship between two sisters. I devoured it.

ALLY WILKES, author of ALL THE WHITE SPACES

Twisty, compelling and oh-so-cleverly written, this tale of creepy séances, aristocrats and sisterhood has the same dark glamour as the 19th century Paris it evokes.

SONIA VELTON, author of BLACKBERRY & WILD ROSE

In this engrossing story about whether or not vengeful spirits exist &ndash; and whether mediums can control them or not &ndash; Lowkis cleverly keeps a lot of ambiguity and space for doubt even in first-person. We are kept guessing at who is being deceived and who is deceiving in this brilliantly twisty mystery.

LILY LINDON, author of DOUBLE BOOKED and MY OWN WORST ENEMY

A magnificent debut ... Lowkis skillfully orchestrates the contentious relationship between Sylvie and Charlotte, each of whom resort to subterfuges and schemes, and pulls off a series of surprising twists that completely change the shape of the story. It’s an auspicious first outing from a writer to watch.

This atmospheric tale has twists, schemes, and surprises that will keep the reader guessing until the last page

'Wonderfully vivid and compelling ... A real page turner' Elodie Harper, author of The Temple of Fortuna 
 
'An evocative gothic tale where nothing is quite what it seems' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora 
 
'A sparkling gothic debut ... reminded me of Sarah Waters' Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl 
 
GOOD SISTER. BAD SISTER. ONE LAST CON. 
 
Paris, 1866. When Baroness Sylvie Devereux receives a house-call from Charlotte Mothe, the sister she disowned, she fears her shady past as a spirit medium has caught up with her. But with their father ill and Charlotte unable to pay his bills, Sylvie is persuaded into one last con. 
 
Their marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution. 
 
Sylvie and Charlotte will need to deploy every trick to terrify the family out of their gold – until they experience inexplicable horrors themselves. 
 
The sisters start to question if they really are at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. And what other deep, dark secrets threaten to come to light...? 
 
Through twists and turns, Spitting Gold blends propulsive historical mystery with a captivating sapphic romance. 
 
'A tale of two sisters filled with spooky spirits, queer love, and high suspense' Heat

Carmella Lowkis

Praise for Spitting Gold

A tale of two sisters filled with spooky spirits, queer love, and high suspense

Set in nineteenth-century Paris, with the violence of the revolution in living memory, this is a wonderfully vivid and compelling gothic book. It is a real page turner, plunging you into the atmosphere ...

A compelling and atmospheric story of sisterhood and female agency, Spitting Gold is an evocative gothic tale where nothing is quite what it seems.

A tale of two sisters filled with spooky spirits, queer love, and high suspense

Set in nineteenth-century Paris, with the violence of the revolution in living memory, this is a wonderfully vivid and compelling gothic book. It is a real page turner, plunging you into the atmosphere ...

A compelling and atmospheric story of sisterhood and female agency, Spitting Gold is an evocative gothic tale where nothing is quite what it seems.

A tale of two sisters filled with spooky spirits, queer love, and high suspense

Set in nineteenth-century Paris, with the violence of the revolution in living memory, this is a wonderfully vivid and compelling gothic book. It is a real page turner, plunging you into the atmosphere ...

A compelling and atmospheric story of sisterhood and female agency, Spitting Gold is an evocative gothic tale where nothing is quite what it seems.

Books by Carmella Lowkis

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter