A delicious romp of a novel. (Antonia Senior)

Sally writes so brilliantly: there's an assured ease to every sentence and The Bride Stone has Sally's trademark elegant prose and confident unfurling of plot and character. I loved the love story at the heart of this novel, which starts so gently but becomes powerful enough to drive the breathless search and pursuit of the final parts of the book. I thought the mystery worked brilliantly too: by the final thrilling chapters, the reader is urgently willing Duval to find his wife, while eagerly trying to unravel the layers of secrets. Compelling, thrilling and beguiling! (Caroline Lea)

I adored The Bride Stone – Sally Gardner’s best novel yet, as if Angela Carter had written Georgette Heyer with a dash of A Tale of Two Cities. The playfulness with genre tropes and plotting is especially fun, and I loved the delicate eroticism, the French Revolution, and the way the novel captures how two people can heal each other of damage. (Amanda Craig)

This enticing work dives straight into a tale of mystery and marriage - a beautifully written but sobering depiction of a woman's tenuous place in the 18th century. A real page-turner. (Mandy Robotham)

Part storyteller, part magician – no one brings history to life like Sally Gardner. The Bride Stone is pure pleasure from start to finish. (Meg Rosoff)