The Paper Eater

^{Also available by the same author}

Charlotte supports herself and her lumpen side-kick, Fru Schleswig, as a prostitute in fin-de-siècle Copenhagen. But the course of harlotry never runs smooth, and Charlotte’s life is altered irrevocably when, one hard winter, she stumbles on an exciting new source of income. A dark mansion, home to the disagreeable Fru Krak, is in dire need of a top-to-bottom scrub – and the wealthy widow is hiring.

Transformed into cleaning ladies, the squabbling duo attack the dark abode – but soon discover that mysteries abound. The basement appears to be haunted, and there are rumours of desperate souls entering it – never to emerge. Meanwhile there have been odd sightings of the dead Professor Krak, master of physics, walking the streets as a ghost. Charlotte decides to turn detective – but finds herself outwitted by the mysterious controller of a demonic Machine which wastes no time in catapulting her and Fru Schleswig into the baffling world of twenty-first-century London. And beyond…