The 18th century is lazily going by in the fictional English town of Airenchester, when we meet hour hero, Thaddeus Grainger, the type of young gentleman of means and taste. A bright, clever, careless boy in the words of his doting housekeeper, Thaddeus is in equal parts bored and disillusioned when it comes to the fine society he confidently belongs to, but that is the way of things, and what is a fellow to do – except navigate the currents, and keep apart from the worst of it? In fact, Thaddeus’s only rebellion is to cultivate the close friendship of reasonably genteel but penniless William Quilby, a vicar’s son and journalist…

A reasonably comfortable, if rather aimless, life – until one night, while slumming in the bad part of town, Grainger stumbles on an acquaintance and rival, the deeply unpleasant Pierce Massingham, harassing pretty Cassandra Redruth. Now, this is not your usual damsel in distress: the bright, capable eldest daughter of a dirt-poor former soldier, Cassie is a commoner, if a respectable one – not exactly the sort to fuss about. But Grainger, being a decent, chivalrous soul under his foppish affectations, steps in to protect Cassie – and earns a challenge for his troubles. The ensuing duel doesn’t go terribly well, and our hero limps home defeated and angry over his foe’s less than fair fighting…

So very, and so vocally angry that, when Massingham is found murdered in a dark alley, all suspicions quickly turn on the man who swore he’d make the victim pay for his ungentlemanly ways. Thaddeus is apprehended and tried, and it soon becomes clear that one should never trifle with Society: dead Massingham’s mother is a powerful force, and Thaddeus’s own superior ways have garnered him little support among his own set… In spite of his few friends’ effort, he is sentenced and imprisoned in the dark Bellstrom Gaol. Except, of course, he hasn’t murdered anyone – and foul play is obviously afoot… Can Cassie and William prove Thaddeus’s innocence before the prison swallows him whole?

This is a wonderful book, with a handful of likable characters fighting against dreadful and ever more sinister odds. It is impossible not to root for Thaddeus, as he matures from a principled but purposeless boy into a determined, compassionate man; for his growing mutual attachment with the clever, brave, devoted Cassie; for his warm friendship with earnest, loyal William. And these three young people, facing injustice, machinations and the workings of society, move inside a most convincing, most vivid world. All characters come alive, from Cassie’s family in the squalor of the tenements, to Massingham’s mother, frozen in her pain; from hard, upright Captain Grimsborough, to the swaggering highwaymen in and out of gaol… oh – and the gaol itself, indeed!

The whole of Airenchester is beautifully created, with its fine streets and dirty alleys, the riverside taverns and the parlours of the ton – all of them always alive, be it with the buzz of bustling people of the menace of thick darkness. But the Bellstrom prison is something else again: it’s something halfway between Piranesi and Hogarth – dark, sprawling, festering with violence and vice, its quotidianity ruled by unwritten laws and unofficial institutions in a dark, hopeless parody of the world outside, the Bellstrom becomes a character in itself, as it looms over the poorer neighbourhoods of Airenchester, and is not quite as separate from the town as one might expect…

All of it is etched vibrantly, in rich language that is truly a joy to read, with its dark colours and finely judged period flavour. Andrei Baltakmens is a Dickens scholar – and it shows beautifully in many ways (just look at his choice of names!) – but he creates a convincing, gripping, deeply satisfying whole that is entirely his own, with engaging characters, an absorbing story, a setting that is truly alive, and wonderful language.

I’m most definitely looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.