An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary--a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century -- London itself. "You read the first page and down you wonderfully fall, into a long, large, wide world of fiction." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW