Daughter. Murderer. Saviour.
London, 1835.
To high society, Estella is the perfect lady. But her fair face hides dark secrets what has she done with her husband? And will her past crimes come back to haunt her?
Desperate to escape her troubled life, she visits her friend, Lady Taykall. But when a servant girl disappears, Estella stumbles on a horrifying web of crimes and feels the old fire for vengeance burning inside her.
To mete out her own brand of dark justice she must risk everything.
Even if it means she cannot survive.
Great Expectations meets Killing Eve in this stunningly dark Gothic crime thriller perfect for fans of Elizabeth Macneal, Stacey Halls, and Jessie Burton.
I admitted when I reviewed Estella’s Revenge in May last year that Victorian literature has never been my natural habitat. Dickens and co left me cold at school, and I was always itching to sneak back to my well-worn Jackie Collins or Shirley Conran paperbacks. But Estella’s Revenge changed my mind about revisiting those old stories, so when Estella’s Fury landed, I happily dived in
And what a return to Estella’s world this is.
We meet her in 1835 London, polished for high society, yet carrying enough secrets to fill the dustiest attic of Satis House. She may be the perfect lady to those who judge her by the clothes that she wears, but it quickly becomes clear that her marriage has left bruises far deeper than have been noticed.
Barbara Havelocke once again gives Estella the voice she always deserved. We discover a woman who lives, breathes, fights and burns with a fierce intelligence. That perfect lady on the outside, storm of rage and righteousness underneath, make this book really thrilling.
The dual timeline is back, which I love, allowing us to slip between Estella’s present circumstances and the shadows of her past. As she flees her deeply fractured life and takes refuge with Lady Taykall, a missing servant girl sets off a chain of events that drags Estella into a network of crimes more chilling than anything she has faced before.
This book is wonderfully atmospheric. From fog-choked London streets to the unsettling opulence of aristocratic homes, every scene feels alive. Havelocke’s prose is so evocative you can almost taste the tension, smell the candle smoke, and hear the whispers behind the drawing-room doors. The plot twists are sharp, the pacing relentless, and the there are several characters that you will love to hate.
And once again, you don’t need to have read Great Expectations to enjoy a second of this. Estella’s Fury stands so well on its own, with its bold feminist undercurrent and a heroine who refuses to shrink to fit her era. She is flawed, vengeful, at times shockingly ruthless and always compelling.
Highly recommended by me. Prepare to follow Estella into the darkest corners of London. You may not always approve of what she does… but you will absolutely devour her story.
The follow up, ESTELLA'S FURY, will be published on 13 November 2025, and is available to preorder now.
As BARBARA HAVELOCKE she creates dark, tense Gothic historical thrillers set in the early Victorian era. Her contemporary psychological thrillers - including the Amazon Number 1 bestseller The Perfect Friend - are published under the name BARBARA COPPERTHWAITE.
For over twenty years Barbara wrote for & edited national magazines & newspapers, talking to victims of crime - and its perpetrators. Her fiction reflects this: she creates realistic characters, and often explores moral grey areas.
When not writing at her home in Birmingham, UK, Barbara spends time with her dogs, Scamp, Buddy, and Arty, or takes wildlife photographs which inspire her artwork.
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