Blood & Sugar
Award-Winning Historical Crime from the Author of The Square of Sevens
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Blood & Sugar
Narrated by:
Ben Onwukwe
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Ben Onwukwe
About this listen
Blood & Sugar is the thrilling debut historical crime story from Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark.
Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .
To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend’s investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.
And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford . . .
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Critic reviews
Laura Shepherd-Robinson has written a story that is not only a page-turner of a thriller but, to an extent unusual in historical novels, where you feel you really are listening to a voice from the eighteenth century. This is a world conveyed with convincing, terrible clarity’ (C. J. Sansom)
A novel of astonishing skill
A tightly plotted crime story with vivid details of Georgian England
Stunning . . . Blood & Sugar is a harrowing and brutal epic [that] shocks and thrills in equal measure
A striking historical thriller . . . Few first novels are as accomplished as this (Andrew Taylor, author of The Ashes of London)
Epic, harrowing, thrilling, brutal, addictive. I read it flat out in one day (C. J. Tudor, author of The Chalk Man)
Magnificent . . . A tense and gripping historical thriller that shines an unwavering light on a dark period in British history. Unmissable. (Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea)
Phenomenal . . . A shoo-in for one of the books of the year (David Young, author of Stasi Child)
Enthralling
Extraordinary (Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little Lies)
A searing, ingeniously constructed story
Truly addictive (Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl)
A passionate indictment of British involvement in the slave trade but it never neglects its duty to chill and thrill
With a hugely likeable hero at its heart, this rich and beautifully written debut marks out Laura Shepherd-Robinson as a major new talent (Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle)
The finest Georgian intrigue
A remarkably assured debut (Elizabeth Fremantle, author of The Queen's Gambit)
A page-turning dive into the torrid depths of London in the 1780s (Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker)
Gripping and original . . . I absolutely loved it (Karen Hamilton, author of The Perfect Girlfriend)
Immersive and exhilarating . . . I was completely swept away (Holly Seddon, author of Love Will Tear Us Apart)
Extraordinary, immersive, addictive and moving (Olivia Kiernan, author of Too Close to Breath)
I can’t recommend it enough (Jo Jakeman, author of Sticks and Stones)
Utterly compelling . . . The next star of historical crime fiction has arrived (R. N. Morris)
The most absorbing, intelligent and breathtakingly atmospheric novel I’ve read in a long time (Chris Whitaker)
I haven't read such an accomplished historical novel since I was introduced to C.J. Sansom. (Jo Spain)
A gripping mystery . . . I loved it (Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request)
One of the best historical novels I’ve read in ages. (Kaite Welsh, author of The Wages of Sin)
Deptford, a gateway to and from Britain’s expanding empire, is evoked in pungent detail. The British slave trade was an appalling episode in our history and the novel is unflinching in its refusal to sentimentalise motives or to row back on the savagery of the times.
I have to say I’m a bit disappointed as I found it a bit overly long by about an hour and the mystery was solved easily... but ...
I did enjoy the history regarding the British slave trade plus the narration was excellent.
At the end we are given the historical facts around which the book was written and I enjoyed this the most.
Blood, sweat, toil, ...
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and it has a lot going for it - the writing is solid and characters develop and unfold. The narration is good with distinct voices for all the cast (particularly some of the patois from jamaica and africa - though a little hard to follow when listening faster than 1 speed).
but there were two flaws in the book - it was rather long. So long that I became unglued from the plot and why things were happening and who to. The author realises this and has a lot of internal dialogue with the protagonist as he thinks through his options and what he thinks is going on - it becomes a little clunky as a device.
the second part is (possible spoiler, so you might want to stop reading here) that for the whole first half of the book it felt like a rehash of the Taboo TV series. Same themes, same setup - it veers off later, but it left me with the feeling of is this the book of the series? have I read this before. That when added to the feeling of 'this is going on for a long time' wasn't ideal.
is it well written? Yes. Will I read more by the author? Hmmm, possibly not. It does bring the docklands to life and it was lovely knowing a little of the geography and history of the area in more depth. Will it stay with me? I don't think so.
so it might well be for you. And it will definitely make a beautiful looking movie or series, I hope they option the rights and chop out a third of it - that'll make the whole thing sing and be visually gorgeous too.
Ok... but not quite as good as I'd hoped
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If you are disturbed by graphic descriptions of how vile men can be to one another or how unfathomably cruel slavery was......you probably won't enjoy this story....which is rooted in truth.
Wonderful narration of a dark and troubling story.
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Great performance from the readers.
A chilling and compelling visualisation of the vile and disturbing deeds of history.
Clever and disturbing
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Brilliant Book
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