MAY QUEEN PUBLISHING
PROUDLY PRESENTS
'THE BEAUMONT SAGA'
Book One:
To purchase THE LADY OF BEAUMONT, please click below:
NEVER LONELY—
EVER ALONE.
A Victorian lady-squire is betrayed by those she loves most and is thrust onto a perilous journey, through the eerie nightmare of Victorian England, into deadly battles in the Arizona desert and on to thrilling suspense in 1890s Paris.
But nothing will compare to the devastating crescendo—a haunting and inescapable Gothic finale—that mere words here could only ever underplay. It is a story of love, betrayal, duty, courage, friendship and redemption.
Written and illustrated by CHRISTOPHER STERLING, THE LADY OF BEAUMONT is the opening novel in THE BEAUMONT SAGA—a sweeping, literary historical series spanning the final years of the Victorian age and the dawn of the Edwardian world.
And the lady herself?
As a Victorian narrator might have described her story…
‘IT WAS THE DAY THE ANGELS WEPT.
'I daresay that MISS FRANCES BEAUMONT is the angels’ favourite—though they would never profess it. Rather more fanciful than she ought, a little too self-regarding, perhaps, and certainly far too wealthy. Yet they know no one is of truer heart or greater substance. But to-day is December 2nd, 1888, and this is the day the Fates allot their gifts to that most endearing soul. It is the moment when Frances is called upon to meet her destiny—one that will test her courage, her heart, and every foundation of her world.
‘And were you to care nothing for Frances, then nothing in this book would matter. But if, like the angels, you should come to care for her—as you shall—then everything will matter. You will not merely read Frances’s words—you will hear them; you will not only follow her adventures—you will live them.’
Victorian authenticity
CHRISTOPHER STERLING deliberately fashioned THE LADY OF BEAUMONT to share the stage with the greatest of Victorian storytellers, drawing on the ‘sensation-fiction’ architecture of Wilkie Collins, the domestic peril and emotional jeopardy of Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and the quiet accumulating dread of Sheridan Le Fanu. It carries the moral weight found in Thomas Hardy, whilst its tensions echo the spectral undertones of Charlotte Riddell, and the controlled dramatic intensity of Ouida. Deliberate threads of Bram Stoker's emotional urgency and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's disciplined narrative clarity are carefully woven beneath the surface, shaping a story that is both psychologically compelling and irresistibly propulsive.
Told through Frances Beaumont’s own vivid and intimate writings, the novel draws the reader directly into her immersive world.
Modern psychology
and pacing
For modern readers, the novel will appeal to those who admire Sarah Waters's immersive Victorian authenticity, Andrew Taylor's elegant historical suspense, Laura Purcell's intimate Gothic unease, and Diane Setterfield's timeless, literary storytelling.
THE LADY OF BEAUMONT stands confidently among them: a contemporary novel, rich in psychology that modern readers will adore, yet woven with Victorian precision, emotional depth, and an evocative sense of place, that never steps out of character.
CHRISTOPHER STERLING presents a beautifully crafted novel that would be equally at place in both a Victorian drawing room and on your smartphone: utterly period, wholly authentic, yet alive with a modern reader’s clarity. With its astonishing tapestry of Gothic romance, Victorian melodrama, chilling suspense, thrilling adventure and exquisite ‘Paget-style’ illustrations, you will think it a long-lost classic.
CHRISTOPHER STERLING draws you irresistibly into the heart of this extraordinary world, where your soul will be lifted and your nerves set on edge—until the very last word of the very last page.
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