The Coral Thief

A powerful and gripping historical thriller for fans of The Essex Serpernt and The Miniaturist. Rebecca Stott is also the winner of the 2017 Costa Award for biography. 'Original and evocative ... a mesmerising thriller' Daily Telegraph'Full of twists and turns' Scotsman'An enthralling exploration of revolutionary science in post-revolutionary France' Guardian'A book of penetrating humanity and a vivid evocation of Paris' Financial Times Paris, 1815. Daniel Connor, a young medical student from Edinburgh, has just arrived in Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes - only to realise that his letters of introduction and a gift of precious coral specimens, on which his tenure depends, have been stolen by the beautiful woman with whom he shared a stagecoach.In the fervour and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. As Daniel embark on a passionate love affair with the Coral Thief, he is drawn to join her salon of thieves to execute one last breathtakingly bold robbery...