Gentle Things

by Danielle Giles

London, 1668. Though the streets hum with promise following the restoration of the crown, Lucy North is trapped. Her father's recent death has left her mother saddled with debts she cannot pay. Lucy must marry the first man willing to take her without a dowry. She has no choice.

Then she meets Thomas Ashwell, a young and charming apothecary, who offers her a route out. Lucy is quick to fall in love, and when Thomas proposes she has no hesitation in accepting him.

But, on the eve of her wedding, Lucy falls and injures her head. Confined to her bedroom while surrendering to the care of her concerned fiancée, Lucy's world soon starts to take on a warped, dreamlike – or nightmarish – quality. Can she really trust this man?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Horror, Historical, Mystery, Fiction, Gothic

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2026

Reviews

[Johanna Van]

I blurbed this book!

"Meticulously researched, tightly plotted, and beautifully written: Gentle Things starts as the gentlest of possessions but will soon haunt you incessantly. I, for one, couldn't get enough, and will gladly allow this rare novel to live within my skull for years to come."

[quillnqueer]

GIRL! HE AIN'T THAT CUTE! JUST KILL HIM!

[Paulina]

I loved this author's debut novel 'Mere' and I can happily say the follow up is at least just as good. Danielle Giles is a fantastic voice when it comes to historical horror.

This book is set between 1666-1668, with London still recovering from the plague that took many lives. The book is split into three parts, in the first we follow Lucy, a daughter of an inn owner, whose mother is trying to marry her off. Lucy feels trapped and when she meets a handsome apothecary, Thomas, she decides to go against her mother wishes and go with her own love match. The second part focuses on two women, Brigit and Kate, who work for Thomas as his assistants. And the third part brings the story together in an eerie and unexpected conclusion.

The story deals a lot with medical cannibalism which I admit to not knowing much about before reading this book but I found it so fascinating. Reading about past medical beliefs always makes me wonder what future generations will look at with bafflement from our time.

This book feels so meticulously researched and brings to life so brilliantly the time period it talks about. And at the same time at no time did it feel heavy handed or like the author is info dumping just to prove how much they know about the topic. It just all feels brilliantly woven into the story and like a way to get a reader more entangled in the setting.

The atmosphere of the story is built amazingly as well. The book starts innocently as a one young girl's fight for a little bit of independence in her life and the ability to fall in love. There are small eerie moments here and there that both the reader and the character can wave off. It's not until the third part that all the little moments build into a full picture in a brilliant execution.

I don't know where the next book by Danielle Giles is taking us, but I can say that I cannot wait to read it.

[Magdalena (magdal21)]

A good book, though definitely not for everyone. It’s a historical fiction novel set in 17th century London with a touch of speculative fiction. One of its central themes is medicinal cannibalism, a practice that was still surprisingly common in Europe at the time. As disturbing as that sounds, it becomes part of a much broader exploration of female agency and the position of women in society within the novel. There’s a reason the book feels so claustrophobic and unsettling throughout. The constant sense of manipulation and gaslighting reflects the reality many women faced in their daily lives at the time.

The story follows Lucy North, the daughter of innkeepers, who marries an ambitious apothecary, Thomas Ashwell. After the wedding, she suffers an accident that leaves her with a serious head injury and a long recovery ahead. During that time, Thomas not only prevents her from leaving the house but also treats her with medicines made from human remains.

The novel is divided into three parts. The first serves as a fairly straightforward introduction to the characters, particularly Lucy and her husband. The second relies heavily on flashbacks and culminates in a significant plot twist. The third is by far the strangest, creepiest, and most speculative section. It’s here that the story begins to blur the line between reality and illusion, leaving us to wonder whether Lucy’s hallucinations, vivid dreams, and increasingly unusual behavior stem from her injury or from the remedies she’s been taking.

I found the plot fascinating and the book genuinely well written. The pacing was good, I never felt bored. If I had one criticism, it’s that I would’ve liked a little more tension in the third section. It’s difficult to explain without giving away spoilers, but I mainly wanted more interactions between Lucy and Thomas. That could’ve heightened the sense of danger surrounding her situation and raised the stakes even further. Still, it’s a relatively minor complaint.

Overall, this book didn’t feel like the easiest historical fiction to read. It was unsettling, strange, and often deeply uncomfortable. At the same time, it was also intelligent and rewarding. One of its greatest strengths is that it still leaves room for interpretation – the reader was never handed every answer, particularly when it comes to what truly happens to Lucy. This is what makes the novel more thought provoking rather than simply shocking. I’d recommend it to readers looking for something weird, atmospheric, and challenging. I’ll definitely read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[LX]

Thank you so much for the proof!!

4 stars!!

What I enjoyed the most from this was how accurate it felt and just fascination as a whole. After finishing, reading about the historial research that went into it, just amazing.

Such a great atmosphere and tbh part 1 I absolutely loved!!

The books builds slowly and little by little which adds to the mystery of wtf is going on and if to trust Thomas or not.

[Paul]

Lucy definitely needs to be careful what she wishes for! Danielle brings London in 1668 to vivid life. A place suffering the trauma of plague and fire. You can almost smell and taste the atmosphere. It is a fast moving plot with many twists and turns including apothecaries, body snatching and cannibalism along the way. A really good read.

[Ceri]

4.25 stars ⭐

I was so excited to get my hands on this ARC after reading the author’s debut novel, Mere, earlier this year, and it did not disappoint!

Set in London 1666-68, only a few years have passed since the last major outbreak of the bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London which together took countless lives. The narrative follows Lucy North, a melancholic young woman who is being set up for marriage by her innkeeper mother. Lucy is treated for her melancholia by Thomas Ashwell, an apothecary who has ambitions of becoming a physician, and their entanglement culminates in a hasty marriage with disastrous consequences.

The first third of this book felt like an immersive slice-of-life narrative, and it really picked up when new character POVs were introduced in Part 2. I particularly enjoyed Lucy’s and Brigit’s chapters and the way the story slowly unfolds with them at the centre of it all. I didn’t care for some of the POVs (ahem, the men) but I appreciate the fact that they are written with (almost) as much complexity and interiority as the women, rather than just plainly villainous. It truly felt like I was reading about real historical figures in Early Modern London, with clearly well-researched details that brought it to life.

In 2026 we are growing increasingly more aware of systemic misogyny in healthcare, and several lines I highlighted in this novel made me stop and go “Oh”. I can already tell this one is gonna stick with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Molly Harding]

2.5!
Loved the idea but wish there was a bit more suspense and was a bit darker!!!

[Rebecca Larsen]

If you have even the remotest interest in the dark history of London - in particular what happened to corpses post execution((!) - then this book will certainly pique your interest.

Lucy North spends her days helping her mother at The Dolphin. She serves and listens and learns, stuck in the constant circle of debt her father's death has left them in. But when she visits Thomas Ashwell's apothecary, she sees another life for herself; for certainly he finds her intriguing and, perhaps, intelligent.

But when Lucy falls down the stairs on her wedding night, she is left with an injury that will contain her to her bed, where her husband will feed her his self-manufactured cures and medicines. The dreams that haunt her at night spill into the day and locked in her chamber it is soon hard for Lucy to understand what is real and what imagined.

Surely Thomas couldn't be doing her harm?

[Lisa Cook]

This had all the ingredients of a book I should have loved, historical fiction, gothic atmosphere, psychological suspense and a premise that promised a slow descent into paranoia. Unfortunately, it never quite came together for me.

We follow Lucy North, a woman in1700’s London whose life takes a turn after a head injury leaves her confined to her home and under the care of her husband, an apothecary. The use of seventeenth century medicine, particularly remedies made from human remains, adds an interesting element to the story, and the historical detail is undoubtedly one of the book’s strengths.

The writing is strong and the atmosphere is consistently eerie, but I found myself struggling to fully engage with the story, the tension never quite reached the level I was hoping for.

Overall, Gentle Things is an atmospheric and unusual piece of historical gothic fiction, but despite its intriguing ideas and strong writing, it left me feeling detached rather than captivated. A disappointing read that never fully lived up to its potential.

[Erin]

Finally! Oh, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am finally to have a 2026 novel that gobs a mighty spit in the face of Dead Lesbian Syndrome, after my galling disappointment in The Brides by Charlotte Cross this year, last month’s She Feeds on Misery by Emily Vale, and the upcoming Erin Kelly title The Night Stairs. I’ve been disproportionately disheartened this year by releases proliferating DLS. Just like ‘Bury Your Gays’, Dead Lesbian Syndrome widely covers any and all villainising of queer female characters, where Sapphic attraction’s tokenistic and where heteronormativity generally triumphs over vilified queer women who never get happy endings. But here, instead, the marvellous Danielle Giles gives us the lesbian who comes back from the dead for her happy ending!

I should’ve known Giles wouldn’t disappoint, off the back of her superlative debut, Mere. In fact, I did a little dance when I heard about her second novel coming out. Just like those in ‘Mere’, Giles’s female cast for ‘Gentle Things’ comprises shrewd, poised, magnanimous women capable of ferocious devotion and resilience. And again, Giles crafts a similar kind of claustrophobic gloom to ‘Mere’ in which she can manoeuvre her marvellous figures – Kate, Brigit, Lucy.

What I love about Giles’s writing is its precision: her precision in style, precision in characterisation, atmosphere; but above all, her meticulousness in pulling theme from plot. Here, she dissects the inequality of medicine (‘For nothing cracks in the same manner as a skull’). You can’t help but admire her virtuosity. Through a historical representation, Giles gulders her condemnation of the contemporary gender health gap (some compelling statistics can be found at https://www.thewomensorganisation.org... ).

By-the-by, if you appreciate Giles’s undertaking here, I’d recommend another new release for 2026 by Bar Fridman-Tell, which I just finished reading – Honeysuckle. It’s also an indictment of male control of women’s body autonomy. It explores the theme of limiting women’s bodily rights and limiting female self-determination in a half-fairytale/half-gothic, dreamy and delicate retelling of myth. Danielle Giles’s novel, conversely, delivers a tempestuous rage against misogyny in medicine and the ‘default man’ mode. (Thomas admits, ‘Young men are the most often used in the medicines for all persons’.)

Let’s say the subtitle to ‘Gentle Things’ should be ‘Medicinal Cannibalism: Seventeenth-century Consumption of Corpses’ (‘“People always told me I was hard to stomach”’). Danielle Giles gives us Shakespearean levels of brutality and gore. Without any spoilers – just saying, the discovery of what's under the bed? Authentic Lady Macbeth! (‘There,’ she says. ‘There, I have tidied it back away.’) The women’s tripartite relationships (Lucy and Kate, Kate and Brigit, Lucy and Brigit) power the novel. Kate, especially, is majestic.

The fluidly beautiful writing reminded me of The Household by Stacey Halls:

‘It is the beginning of November, when the afternoon light pours down and cools golden. Mithras, had he pressed his palms to a single courtyard in London and found himself content. Even in the air, the motes of soot and pollen are gilded, so that every step leaves behind a swirling golden wake.’

But, all credit to Danielle Giles, this is completely individual – there’s nothing like it. Would I say that her slinky sort of humour is just as good as T. Kingfisher’s heroines’ voices? Yes. I’d say, perhaps, that if you love Bridget Collins and Elizabeth Macneal, if you enjoyed The Corset by Laura Purcell, you’ll relish this.

I threw myself into the first part of the novel, then when Part Two began to slither its way towards the true premise of the plot - I was reeled in. And Part Three? What a furious tightening of the noose. I came to feel the novel’s true frisson around 90% and I was electrified by it! So, a gigantic thank you to Pan Macmillan | Mantle for giving me the opportunity to read a digital review copy via NetGalley.

‘[T]he song will reach further down. Rattling old bones, sliding into the spaces where tongues once moved. The dead will take it with them into dreams, and soon there will be not a person in London who does not know the melody.’

[Charlotte]

As soon as I saw the premise for 'Gentle Things' I knew that I needed to read it; with a setting of 1668 London and a young women falling under the care of her potentially untrustworthy new husband after an injury, it simply screamed 'gothic' to me. Plus the fact that the husband happened to be an apothecary also added to that level of intrigue; I'm not sure why but any kind of healer featuring within a text is bound to reel me in. I'm happy to say that this book definitely delivered, albeit in a somewhat different manner than I'd expected. So if you like a historical tale that comes with a creeping sense of discomfort whilst tapping into those gothic vibes this is definitely the book for you.

'Gentle Things' begins with Lucy's perspective before she's even met Thomas. Her position is tricky with unwanted marriages being pushed her way and you quickly see just what kind of lengths she's willing to go to, to avoid an unwanted fate. There's a definite sense of 'instalove' when she meets Thomas but it's one that makes sense given her circumstances; alive in a time and place where young women are expected to wed and being pushed into the arms of a man who, quite literally, turns her stomach it's only natural that she'd grasp on to someone else in such a way. There are also other explanations that can be applied to the swiftness of her bond, but those you'll need to read to uncover. Trust me when I say that everything clicks into place over the course of the novel though.

Once you hit the second part of this novel it takes a different approach than the one I'd expected. There's much fewer scenes of Lucy than I'd have imagined and the author instead delves into other perspectives, some in the 'present' and some a year or so back in the past, when Thomas had two young women helping within his apothecary. For the final part of the novel you get Lucy's perspective once more though. And everything does come together quite cleverly with a couple of full circle moments showing just how carefully the course of this narrative was charted.

The shift in focus around the middle meant this was a somewhat different story than I'd anticipated, although perhaps that's actually a positive thing. Most people reading this book's blurb are probably bound to jump to the conclusion that the apothecary can't be trusted and imagine Lucy trapped against her will. Yet the story shared here is so much more complicated than you're likely to imagine and will keep you guessing.

The horror also comes from a different angle than I'd envisioned but this isn't a complaint - just a warning to others over what to expect. This is more a gothic historical tale with the odd undertone of horror. A tale similar to titles like 'The Burial Plot' and Carrion Crow' where the vibes are undisputedly there, but the things that leave you squirming are of human origins. In this case the horror came from the medicinal arts themselves. For now I'll simply say that there were scenes that made me grit my teeth in the most discomforting way and it turns my stomach to think of just what masqueraded as medicine in the past.

The manner that these medicinal cures were used to steer the storyline was remarkably well done and led to a rather unexpected, but enthralling, read.

Altogether I wholeheartedly recommend 'Gentle Things'. It's a beautifully penned gothic novel with a stomach churning look at the medicines of the past. It's a tale of confinement and injury, told in a wholly original and unexpected manner. It's somewhat different than I'd initially imagined but I praise it for the fact and the originality that came with the narrative that was ultimately shared. The way it ties everything together, with some wonderful full circle moments, shows the care that went into penning this tome and it was such an intriguing tale to lose myself within. I'll definitely be making an effort to go back and read the author's debut, 'Mere' as soon as I possibly can.

[Joseph Pietris]

Doctors can be some of the best horror villains. I would rather be hacked up by an axe wielding maniac than find myself on an evil doctor’s operating table. It’s the slow, methodical way they go about their work that really puts a chill through you. Once the victim is dispatched, the horror should be over—right? From Danielle Giles, Gentle Things is the chilling tale of the medical underground in the late 17th century London.

The first thing the reader will notice is the stunning prose. Written in a way to recall other English authors of the 18th and 19th century, it hardly feels like it was written in the 2020s. The style lends the book an authentic feeling for the time period.

Lucy North is the main character. Most of the novel comes from her first-person perspective. As the truth begins to unfold, the perspective begins to shift from chapter to chapter through an amazing collection of supporting characters. Pleasance Smith is a maid who works at the Dolphin, the inn owned by Lucy’s widowed mother. Pleasance is the closest person Lucy has to a friend and will do whatever she can to keep Lucy safe. Kate Edan is a local ballad singer, and she will become Lucy’s best hope at discovering the dark truth of Thomas’ past. The reader will even get chapters from the villains’ perspective to see the justification for their actions.

Each character comes to reveal their own dark past that has shaped their present. Which begs the question as to whether they’ve let the past crush them or strengthen them. There is a clear divide between the women and men that isn’t stereotypical of societal norms. The women rely on each other. No matter what their differences or station in society, they learn to work together to overcome obstacles. The men, however, are constantly at odds. Each man works toward their own gain to the detriment of the others. Even the man who is supposed to be Thomas’ closet friend, who appears to be trying to help him, is simply enabling his destructive behavior.

I admit that I am not a fan of historical fiction, but I was blown away by this novel. The extensive amount of time and research that Giles put into this work is undeniable. Lots of credit is due to Giles as this is likely one of the hardest periods of time to research due to the clash of old and emerging medical practices. It is evident that a lot of care was taken to portray these strange and outdated procedures accurately and without exaggeration.

Gentle Things is an amazing example of how the human element can be more horrific than the supernatural. That choice for characters to act or not act, to do harm or allow another to be harmed is more visceral than any ghost or ghoul. It sends a shiver doen your spine especially when the characters swear to do no harm.

Gentle Things by Danielle Giles is equal parts educational and entertaining. A horrifying portrayal of period accurate medical practices, I highly recommend this novel.

[Kathleen C]

[ARC provided by NetGalley]

Wherefore art thou, true gentle thing?
Thou shalt not be, the dove-feather'd raven, those fiends angelical, speaking in riddles and plotting in circles.
'But I think I might look back when I am old, [...] and know my choices to be correct. People will not think them good, perhaps, but they do not understand what I aim for. The great purpose I serve. I wish only to lessen suffering, and yet there is so much in my path.'
Yet what if the evil was thoroughly convinced of its benevolence?
Or could it simply have been a poor, misguided soul, lost on its way?

The tapestry came undone, one thread unraveling at a time.
Brigit, Kate, Pleasance, and Lucy.
Judith beheading Holofernes.
Clytemnestra and Circe. Prudence Lee.
"The old hum. It shimmers in our throat, it trembles through our limbs."
"Rattling old bones, slipping into the places where tongues once moved. The dead will take it with them into dreams."
The vines curled curiously across the fading yellow wallpaper.
All along there has been a scarlet thread weaving through our common fates.
The eternal fire burned within.

A most scintillating and riveting read! The attention dedicated to the details was truly impressive.
Was immediately intrigued upon reading the dedication, "for everybody who has ever felt as if their body wasn't their own". As someone who has lived with long-term illness, this truly resonated deeply with me.

*
I did search for the original text in Pharmacopoeia Medico Chymica after reading the epigraph (while fishing out some old notes on scientific and medical history) and not...being anachronistic or anything, but as a biology student, this indeed reshaped the perspectives on what I had previously regarded in relatively detached and hygienic terms: to think that over centuries, the construction of a standardized atlas of human anatomy, the later development in microbiology and immunology deriving from the germ theory of diseases, and further onwards to pinpointing molecular mechanisms, all of which culminating in the knowledge basis of modern biology and medicine. And the appalling truth that all these were entangled with the history of medicinal cannibalism and social inequality, and at times, abuse or murder. Scientific advances ought not deviate from humanity; yet sadly, through the ages we have witnessed only too many violations of this basic principle: Primum non nocere.
(for anyone interested, the preparation of mummia was documented in Liber V: De Zoologia.)
+ stumbled across this article; this book by Richard Sugg was also mentioned in the author's historical note as reference on this topic (along with Medicinal Cannibalism in Early Modern English Literature and Culture by Louise Noble):
https://medium.com/@richardjsugg/mumm...

[Olga]

I requested this almost entirely because of the cover.

Which is perhaps the most superficial way possible to choose a book, but in my defence Danielle Giles had already earned my trust with Mere. I knew she could write. I just didn't know quite where she was about to take me.

And I certainly wasn't expecting this.

I thought I was picking up beautifully written historical fiction.

What I got was historical fiction that slowly, almost imperceptibly, slips into gothic horror without ever announcing the transition. One moment you're immersed in Restoration London, the next you're questioning everything you thought you understood about medicine, faith, power and the things that refuse to stay buried.

I was completely on board.

What impressed me most is how patient the novel is. It never rushes towards its darkness. Every strange occurrence feels like another thread being quietly pulled until eventually the whole tapestry begins to unravel.

The atmosphere is extraordinary. Smoke-blackened streets after the Great Fire. Apothecaries. Anatomy theatres. Houses full of secrets. Danielle Giles has an astonishing sense of place. I could almost smell the city.

And then there are the women. This line stopped me in my tracks:

"Such lives women live, in great silences that grow and grow until we cannot speak a single word without thinking it might break something."

There are dozens of passages like this. Sentences that make you stop reading because you need a minute.

The novel is also full of delicious moral ambiguity. Nobody is entirely innocent. Nobody is entirely monstrous. Even its villains possess a frightening internal logic. The real horror here is rarely supernatural. It comes from ordinary people convinced they are justified.

Which, historically speaking, is usually how the worst things happen.

I also loved how curious the novel is about knowledge itself. Who is allowed to possess it. Who is punished for seeking it. Who profits from controlling it.

One highlighted passage seemed to capture the entire spirit of the book:

"That flaying curiosity. I do not want it. I want it more than anything."

Exactly.

Curiosity is rarely safe in novels like this. Or in history.

Gentle Things is unsettling without relying on cheap shocks, literary without becoming self-indulgent, and beautifully written from beginning to end. It trusts the reader, embraces ambiguity and allows its darkness to grow naturally rather than forcing it.

Danielle Giles is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting writers working in historical fiction.

4.25★

Thank you to Pan Macmillan | Mantle for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

[Carole Tyrrell]

It’s the late 1660’s, two years after the Great Plague and 8 years since the Restoration. Lucy North, too tall, too melancholic, is not happy to be having another ‘date’ with her prospective beau and future husband, Master Stewart, Since the death of her father, debts have plagued the household at the Dolphin and Lucy knows that her mother is finding life difficult. As a result, Lucy had no dowry and no choice. Master Stewart is old, rich and very keen on Lucy. He is hoping for a June wedding and so is Lucy’s mother. But when Pleasance, Lucy’s maid, tells her fortune with an egg in which the initial T is revealed, Lucy knows who it is.
Thomas Ashwell is the local apothecary and has ambitions to become a doctor. In summer 1668 they marry and Lucy moves into his house. But on her wedding day, she has a bad fall which results in a serious head injury. She is confined to her room and Thomas takes care of her with laudanum. Lucy is now trapped again. But she claims that she hears a woman humming songs and is aware of the presence of an unknown person in the house who appears at the foot of her bed.
Thomas procures bodies for dissection by Doctor Oxnade in front of a select band of guests. He believes that Oxnade will help him become a doctor and is unaware that he has no intention of doing so. Apothecaries at the time had various dubious means to obtain their often sinister ingredients.
The stories of Kate Eden, a black female singer of songs and Birgit who was Thomas’s servant before she was arrested and hanged, intertwine with that of Lucy’s.
The author paints a broad canvas of characters against the backdrop of Restoration London. I really felt I was there in between the singers, the sellers and the hustlers all trying to make a living and their way through society. It’s lively, informative writing throughout. The historical detail was impressive and created a very visual narrative. Women and their limited choices at the time was a strong theme as Lucy’s mother eventually becomes Mistress Stewart again through lack of choice. The Gothic overtones were the darkest of dark and also the medical cannibalism. This was a common practice at the time and you may not want to read the phrase ‘puppy water’ again.
A wonderful cover and a book I would recommend wholeheartedly.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

[Mana]

London, 1668. The Great Fire is an ashen memory, and the city is clawing back to life. Lucy North is just trying to stay afloat. Her father is dead, the debts are a noose, and her mother is desperate. Marriage is the only currency left. Thomas Ashwell, a young apothecary with a soft voice, seems like a reprieve. Then comes the fall. A head injury. The wedding bells dissolve into a medicinal fog. Lucy is confined to a room that feels like a cage, haunted by a voice in her head that isn't hers. It is a psychological breakdown in a time before we had a name for it.

Giles skips the romanticized noise. This is about walls closing in. Lucy’s journey is a calculated stripping of her agency. Thomas is a complicated figure; a doting protector whose "cures" only serve to cloud the truth. The tension lies in the ambiguity of care. Is Lucy being saved, or is she being buried alive in a narrative rewritten by men? The book refuses to provide a comfortable exit.

The themes feel jagged and modern. We call it gaslighting now; in 1668, it was just the social architecture of being a woman. The loss of self is a universal horror. Giles captures that specific dread of having your own reality denied by the person holding the medicine spoon. It is a reminder that the most dangerous terrain isn't a dark alley in London, but a quiet bedroom where your word carries no weight.

The prose is lean. The pacing mirrors Lucy’s vertigo, moving from sharp desperation to a warped, hallucinatory state. It is a deliberate choice that forces you to share her disorientation. Some might find the feverish sequences a bit dense, but they serve the central question of trust. This is a cold, intellectual thriller that happens to be wearing a corset, but the bones underneath are raw and real.

It left a mark. No cheap sentimentality here, just a lingering unease. The "stranger" in Lucy's head is the hook that keeps the reader off-balance until the final page. It is a solid, jagged piece of historical fiction that refuses to play nice. A reminder that a quiet room with a man who thinks he knows what's best for you can be the deadliest trap of all.

[Sharon Greenwood]

Thank you Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the ARC Copt of ‘Gentle Things’ by Danielle Giles.

Set in 1668 London, this chilling gothic thriller follows a young woman who marries a charming apothecary, only to question her own sanity and his dark motives after a severe head injury confines her to his sinister medical care.

As a major fan of both historical fiction and horror, I went into Danielle Giles' Gentle Things with incredibly high expectations. Set in the grim, gritty aftermath of 1668 London, the novel certainly delivers on atmosphere. The book explores a dark blend of a traditional ghost story, themes of possession, and a deeply unsettling haunting. It stands out as a strong feminist read, showing the vulnerability of women trapped in the brutal social and medical systems of the era.

What I Liked:
The standout feature of this book is the author's prose. Giles utilizes a wonderful vocabulary that perfectly evokes the period. The language is rich, elegant, and instantly establishes a dark, historical mood.

What I Didn't Like:
Unfortunately, the book didn’t quite hit the mark for me due to a few execution issues.

While the prose is beautiful, it became over-detailed in places, and some of the words and descriptions felt highly repetitive after a while.

The structural choices also disrupted my reading experience. The narrative is punctuated by random "before" paragraphs. Rather than building suspense, these specific segments felt like they didn't fit the narrative flow and actively distracted me from the timeline. Because of this, the plot felt confusing and jumbled at times.

On a personal preference note, I didn't care for the inclusion of the same-sex relationship and the use of the F-word. Ultimately, while the book deals with very dark themes, I found it to be a disturbing read rather than a genuinely chilling one.

Summary:
If you love dense historical fiction with a heavy gothic atmosphere, there is a lot to admire here. However, due to the pacing, structural choices, and stylistic elements, it just didn't entirely work for me.

[Robert Goodman]

Danielle Giles’ debut novel Mere was a dark, supernatural, sapphic novel set in a remote nunnery in 10th century England. Her second novel, Gentle Things is also historical fiction, and also has a supernatural element, but this one moves the action to 17th Century London. But it just as strange and beguiling and disturbing.

The first part of the novel revolves around Lucy North. It is just two years since the Great Fire of London and Lucy is helping her mother run a tavern called The Dolphin. Due to Lucy’s father’s death and inheritance laws, the tavern is to go to a distant cousin unless Lucy’s mother can marry her off to a wealthy man. But Lucy has other ideas, and falls for and marries the dashing local apothecary Thomas Ashwell. Only a freak accident on her wedding night dashes her dreams of a happy future. The second part of the novel follows Lucy’s plight but also fills in some of the gaps in the original story, exploring the lives of a number of other key players, before Giles returns to Lucy for a spooky denouement.

Giles develops a rich world of both naïve and flawed characters around Lucy. She also brings 17th Century London vividly to life. In particular the documented use of human body parts to provide the ingredients for medicines (what better way to cure a skull fracture than imbibing wine laced with powdered human skull?). Giles is also interested in the nefarious ways in which these ingredients were procured. In the world of Gentle Things, while this practice does not seem to have legal repercussions it does have supernatural ones.

Giles draws readers into a little-known aspect of the underbelly of historical London, peopling it with an assortment of colourful characters. The gothic horror element serves to heighten the issues that Giles is seeking to explore. But it also allows Giles to move to a kind of resolution that may not otherwise have been possible. So that Gentle Things becomes a heady mix of genres - a beguilingly dark piece of well-researched historical speculative fiction.

[Hayley Gooding]

I really enjoyed Gentle Things. Danielle Giles is fast becoming one of my favourite authors, and once again I was really impressed by how well researched this book was.

This is a disturbing and incredibly sad story, but what makes it particularly unsettling is how much of what happens is rooted in the beliefs and practices of the time. The medical treatments and attitudes towards women's health are genuinely awful to read about, but they also feel completely believable within the historical setting. There is something particularly horrifying about knowing that these weren't just things invented to make a story frightening. These were practices that were actually used.

I particularly loved Lucy. She was probably my favourite character, and I really liked Bridget and Lucy's mum too. There was one particular section involving Bridget's fragmented memories that I found especially difficult to read. Without getting into spoilers, the way her memories slowly come through was incredibly effective and made some of the things she had experienced feel even more awful.

I struggled more with Kate. I didn't particularly like her as a character, although I could appreciate the role she played in the story. I also wasn't completely convinced by the ending. I felt that everything came together a little too quickly, and I would have liked a bit more time spent on the resolution.

I also have to admit that I was absolutely shattered while reading this, and I think that probably affected my experience slightly. By the time I was getting into it each night I was exhausted and occasionally finding myself thinking, “Oh girl, he's not even that cute.” 😂 So perhaps I wasn't giving it quite the attention it deserved.

That said, I still really enjoyed it. It is atmospheric, disturbing, sad and beautifully researched, and I think Danielle Giles has become an author whose books I will automatically want to read.

Four stars from me. Not quite a five star read, but another really strong book from an author who is very quickly becoming a favourite.

[ruhee]

This was a real slow-burn. However, the more I think about it, the more I like how the plot development was gradual instead of just full throttle. To me, it built on the idea of 'Gentle Things' - how something seemingly non-threatening and gentle can grow into a terrifying ordeal.

The plot of this book slowly built into a crescendo throughout the three separate parts. I thought the narrative decision of playing with points of view in these parts was well chosen. The second part was especially alienating and distant, yet it added to the overall mystery. Everything came together in a satisfactory manner at the end and I enjoyed the way the various strands of the narrative contributed to its conclusion.

Lucy North was a determined, strong-willed and resolute main character. I found her narrative voice immersive and Giles utilised her status and class to comment on women's rights and positions in 17th century London. We know that it was tough to be a woman, but to see what difficulties women faced - and in an intersectional manner - really stood out to me. The amount of research and work Giles put into a historically accurate narrative shone through and I was very impressed by how she did justice to the themes she conveyed. Giles also wrote in a style that imitated the time period and this helped transport me to 17th century England.

However, the show stealer for me was the theme of medicinal cannibalism. I've been drawn to medicine and surgery predating the 20th century (like in the Anatomy duology) because of how strange and obscure the entire practice was. I'd never encountered this theme before and I was fascinated by the entire process and the sociopolitical and classist themes underpinning this practice.

I liked the journey Gentle Things took me on and I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read a historical novel that places women at its forefront while examining a lesser-known medical phenomenon.

[Louisa]

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an eARC of this book. Here is my honest review.

Gentle Things is a book quite different to any I have read before - in historical setting, narrative style and exploration of some gruesome medical practices.

Set in 17th century London, shortly after the plague and Great Fire of London, we meet Lucy North, the 'melancholic' AKA depressed 19 year old daughter of an innkeeper. Lucy's recently deceased father taught her Latin and French, educating her and setting her up for more than a marriage to sustain the family. However in light of his death and difficult circumstances, marriage to an old, moneyed man seems like the only option left to her. Until she meets Thomas Ashwell, a gentle, kind apothecary who she quickly finds a kindred spirit in - and a way out of her predicament. Here is love. But how well does Lucy know Thomas, and how dedicated is he really to his declared purpose of helping people through his apothecary skills?

This was an absorbing novel that I read in one day, I simply couldn't put it down. Danielle Giles does a marvellous job of showing us a range of things and people in 1600s London - a lot of it not very glamorous and some deeply horrifying, and unfortunately based in substantial research of the time. Strong women who are seen as 'maids' and 'mistresses' no matter what they do, and who are still viewed as objects, mainly for sexual pleasure, by most men and society at large.

I did find the shift in perspective at the beginning of Part Two somewhat disorienting, as it was unexpected and did take me a short while to become accustomed to the jumps in time. Once the structure became clear, however, I quickly became very invested in the characters and the impending doom I could feel.

Rich in historical detail and compelling in its storytelling, Gentle Things offers an unsettling glimpse into a world shaped by desperate grasps at survival. A story that will stay with me. 4 stars.

[Amanda Taft]

Thank you to The Pan Macmillan Marketing Team for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb: “The plague has passed, the fire has cooled, and Lucy North is in desperate need of a husband . . . From the acclaimed author of Mere comes a thrilling new tale of medicine, marriage and madness set in seventeenth-century London.

London, 1668. Though the streets hum with promise following the restoration of the crown, Lucy North is trapped. Her father's recent death has left her mother saddled with debts she cannot pay. Lucy must marry the first man willing to take her without a dowry.

So when she meets Thomas Ashwell, a young and charming apothecary, Lucy quickly identifies an attractive route out. She falls in love easily, and when Thomas proposes she believes her future is finally secured.

But when Lucy falls and injures her head during their wedding party, things start to warp. Confined to her bedroom her dreams refuse to leave her at daybreak, and the voice in her head no longer sounds like her own. As Thomas plies her with tinctures and cures, a creeping fear takes root: Has this marriage saved her? Or will it bring about her end?”

This is the second book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it immensely. without giving anything away, it is a very different novel and one which I have thought about often since I finished reading it. The writing style really suits the time in which the book was set which makes it feel really authentic. The characters are believable and I became really invested in Lucy and her outcome. There are some unexpected twists I never saw coming. This book gave me feelings of claustrophobia, probably because in the 1600’s women had little control over their lives or destines. Overall, I would say this is another great book by Danielle Giles.

[Jaffareadstoo]

Set in London during the momentous years following the Plague and the Great Fire we meet Lucy North who lives with her mother in the Dolphin Inn, a bustling tavern which provides hospitality and entertainment for a teeming city. Inclined towards a profitable marriage for her daughter Lucy’s mother attempts to make a match with a man who is definitely not to her daughter’s liking. Thus taking matrimonial matters into her own hands Lucy sets about securing her own husband and quickly forms an attachment to the handsome young apothecary, Thomas Ashwell. Their betrothal has all the hallmarks of success that is until Lucy suffers a serious accident on her wedding day, resulting in a severe head injury. Left to the ministrations of her apothecary husband, Lucy is confined to her bedroom where she experiences vivid and possibly hallucinogenic dreams which may, or may not, have any basis in reality.

This is a really atmospheric historical novel which places us very firmly in seventeenth century London, a place filled with scurrilous gossip, fascinating superstitions and medical practises that were very much experimental, particularly medicinal cannibalism, which I have to admit to never having heard of before. It all points towards a distinctly disturbing element and a fascinating glimpse into seventeenth century cure-alls. The abundant richness of characters particularly the apothecary’s assistants, Brigit and Kate, add a subtle nuance and more than a sense of shock to the gothic outcome of the story.

Slow and considered, Gentle Things doesn’t rush towards its conclusion but rather leads us gently by the hand into the shadowy world of seventeenth century medical practices and of toxic relationships made worse by difficult circumstances.

[meglikesbooksx]

⭐️ 5 ⭐️

It is 1668, and London is still recovering from the plague and the Great Fire. Lucy, daughter of an inn owner, is melancholic and set to marry an older man she despises. That is until she meets Thomas Ashwell, the local apothecary and hopeful physician. This is where things start to become... strange - and I adored it.

This is historical fiction meets gothic thriller and it's absolutely brilliant. Almost instantly, there's a sense of unease and foreboding leaking through every page, subtle at first until it grows and grows and you can't ignore it anymore. I think this is helped by the prose. The writing style felt so authentic to the time and really helped at pulling me into the story. It was difficult to follow at first, but after a few pages I was in the swing of it and really enjoying it.

I didn't really know what direction this was going to go in. I thought I had an idea during Part 1, then Part 2 and its multiple POVs really threw me for a loop until everything came together and I understood why we were getting those POVs in Part 3. This is a story about women, their loss of agency, their freedom and their lives. It's about medical mysogyny, it's about the gaslighting that women in the 1600s (and all the way through history) have suffered from men who say they love them. As Brigit says 'He has only loved that which is useful'. It's about greed and desperation and what we will do to become more, become better versions of ourselves, uncaring of who we hurt in the process. But, most importantly, it's also about the power of female relationships. Fom the sapphic love story in part 2, to the friendship between the women throughout, Gentle Things explores how women can empower and strengthen each other, as well as protect each other from the dangers of simply being a woman.

An utterly wonderful book that exceeded every one of my expectations. 10/10.

[Josephine]

Lucy North lives in London in 1668. She has survived the plague and the great fire but has recently lost her father. Her mother is trying to find a husband who can help support Lucy. However, she does not want any of the men she is introduced to. When she meets Thomas, a local apothecary with great ambitions, she thinks she has found a solution. But her happy ending is only the beginning of Lucy’s story and things take a very dark and mysterious turn when she suffers a serious injury and Thomas attempts to treat her with unexpected side effects.

I’m struggling to know what to say about this book without giving too much away. I absolutely loved the lead female characters and how we see the realities of their lives. I also loved that the reader isn’t given all of the answers. And the language is often poetic. However, I felt that the perspective of the story jumped around a bit too much, even between paragraphs at times. And while I appreciated being able to interpret parts of the story, there were sometimes a few too many gaps that stopped momentum and tension from building.

Overall though, I enjoyed it and would recommend it particularly to people who enjoy mysterious, gothic and ghostly tales.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

[Jen]

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This is a historical novel, following a young woman trying to take control of her own fate, that leads to unexpected circumstances. It’s centred around two places, an inn, and an apothecary. Our main character is the daughter of the widowed inn owner, highly educated and intelligent. Her mother is pressuring her to marry a man she is not keen on. She meets a man who intrigues her more. Her curiosity and learning helping her to strike up a companionship with the apothecary.

The first part of this book started really well. There’s a level of intrigue that grows steadily, there’s a time pressure from the suitor. There’s secret goings on surrounding the apothecary that our main character becomes party to. Somethings that are quite macabre. However an event occurs that throws the book in a new direction, and we shift perspectives. That threw me a little and I found it took me a while to engage with the second act. However it all made sense in the third act and I understood why the author had made those structural choices. The ending was satisfying.

The book explores the macabre well, balancing against the mundane. There was a level of nuance to the characters, actions that made this quite thought-provoking. Definitely read the author’s note at the end to understand the inspiration for the book.

[Bec Sleepy Readers Club]

It’s official! Giles is quickly becoming one of my favourite historical fiction authors! I thoroughly enjoyed this book just as much as ‘Mere’.

It shares a similar, slower, tension building pace with ‘Mere’ as well as being unsettling, creepy and mysterious all the while maintaining just the right level of historical accuracy to create an exhilarating narrative while exploring themes of racism, misogyny and medicinal cannibalism.

Lucy's struggle to trust her own instincts while surrounded by men who insist they know what's best for her is both historically authentic and unsurprisingly contemporary. The novel never lets you forget how vulnerable women were when their voices could be dismissed as hysteria, weakness or madness. Reminded me of ‘Dracula’. However, unlike ‘Dracula’ Giles also highlights the remarkable capabilities and resilience of women, particularly in the face of male control. Unapologetically claiming that as we know; ‘Men are the problem!’

If you're looking for historical Gothic fiction with a fierce feminist perspective and a compelling sapphic romance, then this is the one for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mantle for the opportunity to read this title.

[Lucy]

I enjoyed this story, set in London in the second half of the 17th century.

Lucy North is living in poverty when she marries the apothecary Thomas Ashwell, hoping the marriage will give her a more comfortable and secure life. Instead, things go wrong from the very beginning. On her wedding night she suffers a traumatic head injury, and from that moment on her world seems to become increasingly restricted. As Lucy's condition develops, the story takes on a strange and eerie atmosphere, and I found myself constantly questioning Thomas's motives. Does he genuinely care for his wife, or are the cures he prescribes simply another way of keeping her trapped?

What I liked most was the unsettling sense that something wasn't quite right. The eerie mood runs throughout the novel, creating tension and uncertainty about who can be trusted. At the same time, the book is more than just a mysterious story, exploring women's place in society and the lack of control many women had over their own lives. That combination of atmosphere and social commentary made it an engaging read.

[Jo-anne Atkinson]

After the plague and the fire, Lucy North is left with a mother who has a lot of debt and marriage is the only option. Her mother keeps setting Lucy up but when she meets Thomas, a young apothecary, she falls in love and engineers their marriage. On the marriage evening Lucy hears a noise in the cellar of the family inn and goes to investigate. She has a fall and cracks her skull. Luckily Thomas has a new treatment he wants to try, a tincture including ground human skull. Lucy experiences strange dreams and then these dreams continue into daylight and she sees her husband in a whole new light.
At first this is a standard piece of historical fiction, girl falling into poverty escapes marriage to an older man. However it starts to turn very quickly. Firstly there is the hum of a song, then the meeting with the ballad singer. As Lucy discovers the truth about her husbands ambition the story turns dark and very disquieting. This is probably about as far down a rabbit hole of horror / magic as I am comfortable with but I loved the insidious way that the story developed.