A page-turning late-Victorian mystery by a master, The Glass of Time is for fans of The Meaning of Night and for readers new to Michael Cox alike.

Picking up the lives of characters from the first novel some twenty years later, The Glass of Time begins in 1876. Nineteen-year-old orphan Esperanza Gorst arrives from Paris at the great country house of Evenwood to become lady’s maid to the 26th Baroness Tansor, the former Miss Emily Carteret. But Esperanza is no ordinary servant. She has been sent by her guardian, the mysterious “Madame,” to uncover the secrets that her new mistress has concealed for decades, and to set right a past injustice which — although Esperanza does not know it — is intimately linked with her own future as well as her past.

Gradually, those secrets are revealed, and with them the true identities of nearly every character — for it seems that no one in Esperanza’s world is who she believes them to be. She finds herself enmeshed in a complicated web of intrigue, deceit, and murder that culminates in a devastating betrayal by those she trusted most.

Richly textured and elegantly told, The Glass of Time is a completely enveloping tale of identity, of the unexpected consequences of hidden truths, and of what can happen when past obsessions impose themselves on an unwilling present.


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“A terrific modern-day Victorian novel, and a true page-turner in the manner of the great works of that era. . . . The author has woven an enormous and intricate tapestry. . . . Take a chance and dive into Cox's delightful and deep sea of words.” — Edmonton Journal

“Entirely wonderful . . . chock-full of revenge, romance, duplicity, concealed identities and murder most frequent. . . . The novel's fierce suspense and endless surprises, burnished by Cox's gorgeous prose, make it irresistible. . . . [A] delicious piece of storytelling.” — Washington Post

“Absorbing. . . . Literary pastiche at its very best.” — TLS

“Gripping. . . . While readers unfamiliar with the first book will find themselves deeply engaged by the elegant descriptive prose, those with the benefit of the full context and nuances of The Meaning of Night will better appreciate this sequel.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Satisfyingly sinister.” — Daily Mail

“Those who have not yet encountered the author's erudite and intricate fictions have a treat in store. . . . This is a mystery worthy of Wilkie Collins, combining all the ingredients of a Gothic romance - disinherited heroines, dissolute heroes, revenge and remorse - with a very modern sense of pace.” — The Times

“[Cox is] a brilliant storyteller. . . . He crafts an intelligent page-turner with the sorts of dark, dirty secrets that modern readers have come to expect of the supposedly virtuous Victorians. . . . [No one] manages to better his exquisite period detail, scope and sheer readability.” — The Independent


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Michael Cox edited The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories and The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories, and was the biographer of the ghost-story writer and scholar M.R. James. His first novel, the internationally acclaimed The Meaning of Night, was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa First Novel Award, and he was nominated for Waterstone’s Newcomer of the Year at the 2006 Galaxy British Book Awards. Michael Cox passed away in 2009.


From the Hardcover edition.

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