‘One of the most versatile and talented horror writers of our day, Stephanie Ellis shines again, this time with A Fragile Thing, a darkly chilling novel of madness, mind games, and manipulation. Channelling Jekyll and Hyde in Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel, where science and spiritualism seduce the upper classes and the streets stink of nightwalkers and nightcrawlers, ambitious Isaac Bercow attempts to root out the shadowy manifestations that plague his own psyche. Blurring the lines between illusion and reality, one thing is clear, Ellis dangles our darkest fears before us with mesmerising skill.’

—Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of
Grotesque: Monster Stories

Oozing with Victorian Gothic, A Fragile Thing toys with the Faustian bargain and leaves you asking, Who is monster, and who is man? Mesmerism, hypnotism, mind control — this one has it all! Fans of Laura Purcell’s novel The Shape of Darkness and the highly acclaimed TV series Penny Dreadful will enjoy this dark and twisted romp through Jack the Ripper’s London.

—Catherine McCarthy, author of Mosaic and Immortelle

“Ellis paints a picture of Victorian London so vivid you can almost smell the smog, and in Isaac Bercow, a man so driven by his thirst for power and control, you wonder if anything will remain of his fragile humanity.”

—Kev Harrison, author of Pyres and Shadow of the Hidden