Spitalfields, 1840.

Catherine Sorgeiul lives with her Uncle in a rambling house in London's East End. She has few companions and little to occupy the days beyond her own colourful imagination. But then a grisly murderer strikes, dubbed The Man of Crows, and as Catherine hungrily devours the news, she begins to believe she can channel the voices of the victims - and the murderer. But the murders continue to panic the city and Catherine gradually realizes she is snared in a deadly trap, where nothing is as it first appears. With an elegant style and a thrilling plot, The Pleasures of Men, reveals the dark, beating heart of corrupt London in Queen Victoria's reign.

Watch Kate talk about The Pleasures of Men in Spitalfields

• 'The Pleasures of Men shares with Wolf Hall an ambitious, challenging concern with form combined with a pitch-perfect historical ear... This intoxicating and disturbing novel is properly thrilling and extraordinarily well-written. Kate Williams is already an accomplished biographer; The Pleasures of Men shows a soaring talent let loose.' Independent on Sunday


• ‘Intense, intelligent and hugely entertaining..it will add Williams to the ranks of queens of contemporary fiction’, The Guardian.


• A BBC Radio 4 Open Book Choice Listen to Kate talk about The Pleasures of Men with Mariella Frostrup.


• A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice Listen to Kate talk to Simon Mayo about The Pleasures of Men


• 'Kate Williams Joins the Queens of Historical Fiction', Guardian.
  Click here to read the review.


• 'Historian Kate Williams talks to David Robinson,, 'The Scotsman.
  Click here to read the review.