In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women.

The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common – they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, discovers that her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .

As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .

The Household is the new novel from the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars , The Foundling and Mrs England. Set against Charles Dicken’s home for fallen women and inspired by real figures from history, it is Stacey Halls’ most ambitious and compelling novel yet.

My Review

Another audiobook, this time from Audible, and my fourth by this author. I eagerly await her next offering.

In The Household, it is 1847, when we meet a group of women who have fallen on hard times, and ended up in prison, or working the streets. Martha is the first to arrive and seems too good and innocent to be there. I was never really sure why she was, but I adored her. Then we have Josephine and Annie, who met in prison and became really close. About to be released, they are chosen to go to Urania Cottage, where they will learn skills like baking, sewing and playing an instrument. But after a while they will travel to Australia to begin new lives. Who will want to go?

Angela Burdett-Coutts, heiress of Coutts bank, is one of the benefactors, but like celebrated author Charles Dickens, she doesn’t really understand these women and their needs. Angela has been stalked by the deranged Richard Dunn for a decade, and he has made her life hell. She discovers that he has been released after serving time in prison, and she is now terrified that it will all start again.

Urania Cottage is run by Mrs Holdsworth, who tries her best to keep the young women in check, without it seeming like another prison. Her son Frank is a frequent visitor – he is a lowly PC in the Met.

I loved this book. I loved every character (the good ones anyway), particularly Martha and Josephine. They are so well-written and their situation and wretchedness draw us in, we just want them to have a happy ending. I’m not saying anything! There are often little clues – will Frank have a romance with one of the women, will Angela find love and with whom? There is drama and sadness, women were second rate citizens, even Angela in spite of being a millionairess. For the less fortunate, a woman of high intelligence and education, being a governess was considered the pinnacle if she hadn’t ensnared a wealthy husband. The Household is a fascinating look at the lives of women in the mid 1800s.

About the Author

Stacey Halls was born in Lancashire and worked as a journalist before her debut The Familiars was published in 2019. The Familiars was the bestselling debut hardback novel of that year, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards’ Debut Book of the Year. The Foundling, her second novel, was also a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Mrs England was her third novel. The Household is her fourth.