Book lover and Jane Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has barely started her new job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure publication: the second edition of Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their enquiry draws Sophie into a web of mystery surrounding the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice, with ultimately dangerous consequences.

In a narrative that alternates between Sophie’s quest, which also sees her dealing with several love interests on the way, and the young Jane Austen’s touching friendship with the ageing cleric Richard Mansfield, Charlie Lovett – who first delighted readers with his bestselling debut The Bookman’s Tale – weaves a romantic, suspenseful and compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.