I was really looking forward to this as I read The Familiars and really did enjoy that. I also had great hopes for this one after reading the first look. And it did start off well. Stacey Halls really is great at setting scenes and the reader gets a real sense of what London was like in the 1700s. I loved the premise of the story but then as the plot continued it all felt a bit too predictable and by the time I got to the ending it was all a bit twee - "they all lived happily ever after". I wanted it to be grittier. It felt like not as much time had been taken over this book as The Familiars and the story was like an adult version of a plot that could have been in Hetty Feather (Jacqueline Wilson kids books based on foundlings...). I don't want to sound negative as it was enjoyable but I'd take the comparison to Hilary Mantel on the front cover lightly.