"Grabs at the reader with hooked talons."--Eoin Colfer

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch--and he is running from a most terrible past. What he is about to learn is that in this village is the life he has dreamed of--a safe place to live, and a job, as the assistant to the mysterious pawnbroker who trades people's deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow's job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: The Black Book of Secrets.

Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future interactions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.

Born in London, F.E. Higgins moved to Ireland at the age of seven. After attending university in Dublin, she returned to England, and now lives in a house that dates back to the 15th century in a small village in rural Kent. The Black Book of Secrets is her first novel.