The River Maid

The River Maid
Dilly Court

The first in a stunning new series from Sunday Times bestseller, Dilly CourtLondon, 1854: twenty-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father’s beck and call.Then, one night, she must transport a mysterious man from a foreign ship to the banks of the Thames, a man who ends up renting a room in Essie’s house, identifying himself only as ‘Raven’.When curiosity gets the better of her, Essie follows him and unwittingly becomes involved in something far greater than she could ever have guessed. Finding herself on a ship bound for the penal colonies in Australia with Raven and his cousin Alice, this is only the start of a remarkable journey taking her to the other side of the world and back again…

Copyright (#ulink_8b7ffe21-809e-5ba2-ad81-102fcb188419)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Copyright © Dilly Court 2018

Cover photographs: Front © Gordon Crabb/Alison Eldred (Girl); Background © Shutterstock (ships/harbour)

Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Dilly Court asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780008199609

Ebook Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 9780008199616

Version: 2017-12-06

Contents

Cover (#u4c62345a-ea3a-537d-a13a-36f04950d00a)

Title Page (#uaee83eb3-716c-5f22-a6ba-7220da798710)

Copyright (#uaea2d289-a030-590e-a134-c872ea4594d2)

Chapter One (#u1be1cc31-8536-5657-aadf-53c65395e064)

Chapter Two (#ufece4ec6-4e2e-5617-9bfd-f22277584b08)

Chapter Three (#u51948b33-facc-5988-9fbd-3468e115cb7b)

Chapter Four (#u69883a15-d876-51d1-8aec-92535f99817a)

Chapter Five (#uc97909bb-14be-5130-b611-e9e14eb7cfd4)

Chapter Six (#u439a047a-a131-586d-9e7f-486b4463c30c)

Chapter Seven (#ud5b953e7-8a5a-5a98-b874-e2079200cfcd)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Read on for an exclusive extract of the next book in this brilliant new series – The Summer Maiden (#litres_trial_promo)

Discover other bestselling novels from Dilly Court (#litres_trial_promo)