Dark River Melody

A romp of a novel which vividly brings the sights and sounds of London to life, filled with interesting characters, and one of the most evil villains to populate a page

Tom Gobey is a pamphleteer who has been in prison in Botany Bay for the past seven years. In 1799, he returns to London in search of his sweetheart, Eileen Dineen. His old republican friend, Johnny Steadman, explains that Eileen has been injured and has visited the bone-setter, Mrs. Shapp. It seems that Eileen has abandoned her old political ways and is now living with a powerful aristocrat, Saffronetti. As soon as this wealthy man, a vicious castrato with an opium addiction, hears of Tom’s return he orders his sadistic henchman, Mr. Sticks, to kill his rival. Tom and Eileen seem thwarted at every turn until fate smiles kindly and they are reunited, but are not free to love—Eileen has stolen Saffronetti's jewelry and could hang for her crime. Injured and bedraggled they decide to flee to France in search of liberty.