Undoing of Violet Claybourne by Emily Critchley

*LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA DAGGER AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR*

A dark, captivating novel of family secrets, desperate ambition and the deepest betrayal.

TO BECOME ONE OF THEM, SHE WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES…

1938. Gillian Larking is used to blending in and going unnoticed, until she is befriended by her new roommate at boarding school, the vibrant and spirited Violet Claybourne. As the Christmas holidays approach, Gilly can’t believe her luck when Violet invites her to spend them at her home, the crumbling Thornleigh Hall.

At Thornleigh, Gilly is dazzled by the family’s faded grandeur, and above all by Violet’s beguiling older sisters who seem to accept her as one of their own. But following a terrible incident in the house’s grounds, Gilly begins to realise the Claybourne sisters aren’t quite what she thought they were. And if she’s to survive in their world, she may have to become just like them . . .

‘An evocative mystery . . . atmospheric and gripping. An ideal read for winter days’ Good Housekeeping

‘A stern boarding school, a dilapidated country mansion and an old-fashioned asylum are the gloomily atmospheric settings for a gothic-tinged story that explores the troubled minds and volatile emotions of the Claybourne sisters and their erstwhile friend, the impressionable Gillian Larking in 1930s England . . . Taut, tense and melancholy, it’s a brilliant claustrophobic study of gaslighting and manipulation, as a family’s ambitions overwhelm their better impulses’ Daily Mail

A captivating mystery, set against a crumbling manor house in the 1930s, where a young woman becomes ensnared in one family’s dark secrets . . .

About the Author: Emily Critchley grew up in Essex and has lived in Brighton and London, where she worked as a bookseller in one of London’s largest bookshops. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. Her young adult crossover debut Notes on my Family was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, longlisted for the Branford Boase and Book of the Week in the Sunday Times. One Puzzling Afternoon, her debut adult novel, was selected as an Indie Fiction Book of the Month. The Undoing of Violet Claybourne is her second novel.

06 Nov 2025
 

The Undoing of Violet Claybourne: The captivating, wintry gothic mystery of family secrets, lies and the darkest deception, with a devastating twist you won’t see coming by Emily Critchley ISBN 9781804185117