A working-class French young woman would kill to become assistant to Paris's top modiste, but she must first seek vengeance against those responsible for the death of her family, in this thrilling historical horror from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley!

Eighteen-year-old Ang?lique dreams of designing extravagant gowns like the ladies in the bourgeoise wear to balls and soir?es. Because she's working-class, Ang?lique knows that her life will, instead, be spent dyeing silk for a living. That is, until her parents and younger sibling are killed in the sweatshop where they've toiled. Now orphaned, and with another sister to protect, Ang?lique vows vengeance against the factory owner growing richer by treating his employees as disposable.

To improve her station, Ang?lique takes a position as a junior seamstress for Paris's top modiste. Though she's bullied for being poor and her meager salary isn't enough to pay rent, she refuses to give in. Her sister and crush, a handsome, immigrant shoemaker, won't allow it. Then the modiste proposes a contest to win the well-paid, coveted assistant position. Ang?lique would do anything to earn the career of her dreams. What's a little arsenic between girls after all?

As Ang?lique outshines--and outlives--the competition, she also wields her newfound privilege and power to exact revenge on those who ruined her family and blossoms into a new role: Paris's greatest prot?g?e.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Published: 06/10/2025
ISBN: 9780593897669
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.84d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2025