Two for Sorrow

Summary

London, 1903. Two women are hanged in Holloway Prison for killing babies. More than thirty years later, their crimes resurface with shocking consequences. When Josephine Tey sets out to write a novel about Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious Finchley baby farmers sentenced to death for a string of newborn murders, she has no idea that the research for her book will be used in the investigation of a modern-day killing—the sadistic murder of a young seamstress, found dead in the studio of Tey’s friends, the Motley sisters, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala. 

While initially the death of the young girl, an ex-con trying to go straight, seems to be the result of a long-standing domestic feud, Josephine’s friend, Inspector Archie Penrose, is not convinced. And when a second young woman is involved in a horrific accident soon afterwards, the search begins for a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to keep the past where it belongs. Moving between the decadence and glamour of a private women’s club, the bleak surroundings of Holloway prison, and the deprivation of London’s slums, Two for Sorrow is a dark and unsettling exploration of the way in which the crimes of the past destroy those left behind—long after justice is served.