"Extremely impressive . . . . A wonderful read from a born storyteller." ―Chris Cleave, New York Times bestselling author of Little Bee "A wicked sense of humor . . . . Subversive and thrilling . . . It will keep you up all night." ― The New York Times Book Review "Like Jane Austen on crack cocaine . . . . A triumph of wit and brio." ― The Scotsman An unforgettable historical tale of piano playing, passions, and female power The setting of Sedition by Katharine Grant: London, 1794. The problem: Four nouveau rich fathers with five marriageable daughters. The plan: The young women will learn to play the piano, give a concert for young Englishmen who have titles but no fortunes, and will marry very well indeed. The complications: The lascivious (and French) piano teacher; the piano maker's jealous (and musically gifted) daughter; the one of these marriageable daughters with a mating plan of her own. While it might be a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a title and no money must be in want of a fortune, what does a sexually awakened young woman want? In her wickedly alluring romp through the late-Georgian London, Italian piano making, and tightly-fitted Polonaise gowns, Katharine Grant has written a startling and provocative debut. Late eighteenth-century London is the well-detailed setting for this fun, lascivious gambol through the lives of women and men with decidedly carnal appetites in children’s author Grant’s first, quite intriguing novel for adults. It is 1794, and four nouveau riche men realize they must marry off their daughters, and soon. They seize upon what seems an excellent plan. Hire a French piano master to teach the girls how to play the newly popular instrument, the pianoforte, and, therefore, be able to attract the right spouses with their decorous musical talent. Unfortunately for the fathers, the piano teacher is an irredeemable goat who instead sets out to seduce the young ladies and thus render them unmarriageable. As the shenanigans ensue, it remains to be seen whether the the piano teacher, the fathers, or the sexually awakening daughters have the upper hand and even what the actual end-prize might be for each person involved. Although the dark theme of incest winds through the story, overall the plot and characters are handled with grace and precision. Suggest to fans of Sarah Dunant and Sarah Waters. --Julie Trevelyan “A tease of a novel. . . . I found myself irritated enough to throw the book at the wall several times, but then intrigued enough to read the whole thing twice. . . . [E]xtremely impressive. . . . [A] wonderful read from a born storyteller.” ― Chris Cleave, New York Times bestselling author of Little Bee “Grant . . . is clearly having fun with her first adult novel. A tale of seduction, sex, love, death and music, Sedition pulsates with pain but also with a wicked sense of humor that sometimes arises from the smallest details. . . . The darkness of Sedition is its driving force. A subversive and thrilling gothic tale, it will keep you up all night. It's the sort of novel you say you'll read for only 10 more minutes because it's already way past your bedtime. Two hours later, your light is still on.” ― Andrea Wulf, The New York Times Book Review “ Sedition could easily have dissolved into semi-kinky melodrama, a chronicle of Belladroit's conquests. Thanks to author Katharine Grant's sly writing, it never does… A thumping debut filled with sex, manipulation and a dash of romance. Wickedly dark and provocative, Sedition is a bold reminder that the thirst for power and status remains unquenched over the ages.” ― BookPage Top 10 pick for April “This is one of those precious novels. The kind that bookworms burrow inside to devour with relish from cover to cover. The kind you'll secrete behind all the other books on your shelves in case friends steal it and somehow "forget" to give it back.... Not a dull or superfluous page. . . . Grant at times writes like Jane Austen on crack cocaine or Dickens sating himself at an orgy – drawing freely on the literary posturing of past greats, but entirely, refreshingly modern, entirely herself…. She makes you gasp and laugh and re-read. . . Her style is a triumph of wit and brio.” ― The Scotsman (UK) “A witty, dark and sophisticated tale set in 1790s London… sharp, unsentimental storytelling that evokes the era with zest and authenticity. [Grant’s] London, like her characters, is both flawed and fascinating. The novel’s epigrammatic voice―"London was never so lovely as when you were about to leave it"―is another of its delights, detached in tone but delivering what are often dark ironies with memorable brevity and cleverness.” ― Publisher’s Weekly (Starred) “ Sedition … is as dark and deceitful as it is gloriously bawdy, the beautiful bastard child of Choderlos de Laclos's Les liaisons dangereuses and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith .” ― The Observer (UK) “[A] fun, lascivious gambol through the lives of