Sian Busby's debut novel is a breathtaking feat of historical scholarship, which takes you to the heart of the Victorian soul. As Daniel McNaughten goes on trial, the dark forces lying beneath the surface of society threaten to break loose and overturn the very order of things. "Mcnaughten has an intricacy and sentimentality worthy of Dickens and a satirical eye as sharp as Thackeray's... A gripping thriller, rich, clever, absorbing and extremely hard to fault ...a witty look at men in power and a plot that shocks with an extraordinary twist".