A Double Life

"A seriously stylish, hugely compelling mystery... I was utterly gripped." - Lucy Foley Gabriela is a senior negotiator in the Foreign Office. When she returns to her young family after a seven-month stint in Moscow, something doesn't seem right. Isobel is a journalist on the local paper in Camden. After witnessing a violent attack, she starts to investigate. But someone saw her watching, and is making themselves known in increasingly frightening ways. As Gabriela's life begins to unravel, Isobel gets closer to the truth, and the two women's lives converge in this deeply chilling examination of deceit. Reader reviews for A Double Life 'A sensational story packed full of twists. What an unbelievable book, I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the ending... it's a cliffhanger, so I hope Philby is already working on a sequel because I NEED to know what happens next' 'A riveting and tense thriller exploring the actions of two women whose lives are about to collide' 'Can't wait for book 3!' 'Great read' Amazingly brilliant' 'Loved loved LOVED! I was hooked after the very first chapter. Engrossed in the story all the way through. The end hit me like a tonne of bricks!!! CANNOT WAIT for the 3rd book!!' 'Complex, chilling, fascinating. LOVED it' 'Addictive' 'Chilling' 'Gripping' Praise for A Double Life 'I was utterly gripped' LUCY FOLEY 'I fell into the vivid, frightening world Charlotte Philby creates so skilfully and didn't resurface until long after I'd turned the last page' JANE CASEY 'A Double Life confirms Charlotte Philby as the master of a sub-genre she basically invented' ERIN KELLY 'Brilliantly executed and tense' SUNDAY TIMES 'Terribly compelling... persuasive and absorbing' OBSERVER 'A pacy, gripping read that kept us on the edge of our seats' INDEPENDENT

"A seriously stylish, hugely compelling mystery... I was utterly gripped." - Lucy Foley Gabriela is a senior negotiator in the Foreign Office. When she returns to her young family after a seven-month stint in Moscow, something doesn't seem right. Isobel is a journalist on the local paper in Camden. After witnessing a violent attack, she starts to investigate. But someone saw her watching, and is making themselves known in increasingly frightening ways. As Gabriela's life begins to unravel, Isobel gets closer to the truth, and the two women's lives converge in this deeply chilling examination of deceit. Reader reviews for A Double Life 'A sensational story packed full of twists. What an unbelievable book, I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the ending... it's a cliffhanger, so I hope Philby is already working on a sequel because I NEED to know what happens next' 'A riveting and tense thriller exploring the actions of two women whose lives are about to collide' 'Can't wait for book 3!' 'Great read' Amazingly brilliant' 'Loved loved LOVED! I was hooked after the very first chapter. Engrossed in the story all the way through. The end hit me like a tonne of bricks!!! CANNOT WAIT for the 3rd book!!' 'Complex, chilling, fascinating. LOVED it' 'Addictive' 'Chilling' 'Gripping' Praise for A Double Life 'I was utterly gripped' LUCY FOLEY 'I fell into the vivid, frightening world Charlotte Philby creates so skilfully and didn't resurface until long after I'd turned the last page' JANE CASEY 'A Double Life confirms Charlotte Philby as the master of a sub-genre she basically invented' ERIN KELLY 'Brilliantly executed and tense' SUNDAY TIMES 'Terribly compelling... persuasive and absorbing' OBSERVER 'A pacy, gripping read that kept us on the edge of our seats' INDEPENDENT

An unsung classic of nineteenth-century Russian literature, Karolina Pavlova's A Double Life alternates prose and poetry to offer a wry picture of Russian aristocratic society and vivid dreams of escaping its strictures. Pavlova combines rich narrative prose that details balls, tea parties, and horseback rides with poetic interludes that depict her protagonist's inner world-and biting irony that pervades a seemingly romantic description of a young woman who has everything. A Double Life tells the story of Cecily, who is being trapped into marriage by her well-meaning mother; her best friend, Olga; and Olga's mother, who means to clear the way for a wealthier suitor for her own daughter by marrying off Cecily first. Cecily's privileged upbringing makes her oblivious to the havoc that is being wreaked around her. Only in the seclusion of her bedroom is her imagination freed: each day of deception is followed by a night of dreams described in soaring verse. Pavlova subtly speaks against the limitations placed on women and especially women writers, which translator Barbara Heldt highlights in a critical introduction. Among the greatest works of literature by a Russian woman writer, A Double Life is worthy of a central place in the Russian canon.

An unsung classic of nineteenth-century Russian literature, Karolina Pavlova's A Double Life alternates prose and poetry to offer a wry picture of Russian aristocratic society and vivid dreams of escaping its strictures. Pavlova combines rich narrative prose that details balls, tea parties, and horseback rides with poetic interludes that depict her protagonist's inner world-and biting irony that pervades a seemingly romantic description of a young woman who has everything. A Double Life tells the story of Cecily, who is being trapped into marriage by her well-meaning mother; her best friend, Olga; and Olga's mother, who means to clear the way for a wealthier suitor for her own daughter by marrying off Cecily first. Cecily's privileged upbringing makes her oblivious to the havoc that is being wreaked around her. Only in the seclusion of her bedroom is her imagination freed: each day of deception is followed by a night of dreams described in soaring verse. Pavlova subtly speaks against the limitations placed on women and especially women writers, which translator Barbara Heldt highlights in a critical introduction. Among the greatest works of literature by a Russian woman writer, A Double Life is worthy of a central place in the Russian canon.