I really wanted to like this book, since I have read other books by this author that I have loved. However, there is a lot of violence, and references to sex, and a very young prostitute has a botched abortion and requires surgery for a hysterectomy. It's really graphic and blood and guts everywhere. I just couldn't handle all that.

Also I didn't like how the narrative switches from the lawyer character and then to a journal written by Queen Victoria. That was really weird and slowed down the plot.