The Protegee

A working-class French young woman would kill to become assistant to Paris's top modiste, but she must first seek vengeance against those responsible for the death of her family, in this thrilling historical horror from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley!

Eighteen-year-old Angelique dreams of designing extravagant gowns like the ladies in the bourgeoise wear to balls and soirees. Because she's working-class, Angelique knows that her life will, instead, be spent dyeing silk for a living. That is, until her parents and younger sibling are killed in the sweatshop where they've toiled. Now orphaned, and with another sister to protect, Angelique vows vengeance against the factory owner growing richer by treating his employees as disposable.

To improve her station, Angelique takes a position as a junior seamstress for Paris's top modiste. Though she's bullied for being poor and her meager salary isn't enough to pay rent, she refuses to give in. Her sister and crush, a handsome, immigrant shoemaker, won't allow it. Then the modiste proposes a contest to win the well-paid, coveted assistant position. Angelique would do anything to earn the career of her dreams. What's a little arsenic between girls after all?

As Angelique outshines--and outlives--the competition, she also wields her newfound privilege and power to exact revenge on those who ruined her family and blossoms into a new role: Paris's greatest protegee.