The Savage Instinct

In the lineage of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, The Savage Instinct is the chilling story of one woman's struggle for her sanity, set against the backdrop of the arrest and trial of Mary Ann Cotton, England’s first female serial killer.


England, 1873. Clara Blackstone has just been released after one year in Hoxton, a private asylum for women possessed by madness. Clara has two goals: to reunite with her husband, Henry, and to never―ever―return to the asylum. As she enters Durham, Clara finds her carriage surrounded by a mob gathered to see Mary Ann Cotton―England’s first female serial killer―charged with the murder of eleven individuals, including those of her husband and children.

Clara soon finds that the cold, shadowy walls of their estate are no less terrifying than the white-tiled walls of Hoxton. And as she grows increasingly suspicious of Henry’s intentions, her fascination with Cotton grows. Soon, Cotton is not just a fascination from the headlines, but an unlikely confidante, mentor―and perhaps accomplice.