The Silent Boy

From the No. 1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a brilliant new historical thriller set during the French Revolution.

Paris, 1792. Terror reigns as the city writhes in the grip of revolution. The streets run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine. Edward Savill, working in London as agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife Augusta has been killed in France. She leaves behind ten-year-old Charles, who is brought to England to Charnwood Court, a house in the country leased by a group of émigré refugees.

Savill is sent to retrieve the boy, though it proves easier to reach Charnwood than to leave. And only when Savill arrives there does he discover that Charles is mute. The boy has witnessed horrors beyond his years, but what terrible secret haunts him so deeply that he is unable to utter a word?

Praise for The Scent of Death: 

'Andrew Taylor wrote superb historical fiction long before Hilary Mantel was popular' Daily Telegraph 

'Taylor shows once again how skilful a historical novelist he is' Sunday Times 

'A mesmeric read' The Times 

'The 18th-century tone and voice is beautifully achieved: Taylor is as good at this period as C J Sansom is at Tudor England' Independent 

'Andrew Taylor's historical crime fiction is always an event' 

Guardian Praise for The American Boy: 'A wonderful book, richly composed and beautifully written ... enthralling from start to finish' 

The Times, Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade 

'Hugely entertaining, beguiling and atmospheric' Observer, Books of the Year 

'A most artful and delightful book' Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year 

'Deeply absorbing and beautifully written. He creates an atmosphere close to Sarah Waters' Fingersmith' Independent

Andrew Taylor is the multiple award-winning author of The American Boy, his No. 1 bestselling historical novel which was a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club choice. He has won many awards, including the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA's prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing.