The gripping, epic new historical family saga from the author of A Woman of Substance. From Victorian London to the vibrant port cities of England and France, from gracious stately homes in Gloucestershire to the decadence of Paris, Master of his Fate launches an unforgettable new historical series.London 1884: Queen Victoria is Empress of India and Britain is at its peak of worldwide power. James Falconer works as a barrow boy in a flourishing London...

Captain Charles Maddox returns secretly to London from an exile in disgrace only to be arrested, imprisoned and threatened with the death penalty. He is rescued by a shadowy government agency called the Map Room who give him a choice: return to prison or become an agent, codenamed Sterling, and help them uncover a government conspiracy connected to the Ripper murders.

1840. 23 years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family's friends, the Fowles. She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache of family letters which hold secrets she is desperate should not be revealed. As Cassandra recalls her youth and her relationship with her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together buried truths about...

Wales, 1883. Young Ruth Owen, a talented musician with a scholarship to a prestigious music school, has a sparkling career ahead of her. But after a run-in with her mysterious tutor she flees to London, leaving everything and everyone behind. London, 1897. Fourteen years later, Ruth, now married with two children, finds herself struggling for money and a place to live. Left with no other option, they decide to return to Wales and live on a canal boat....

Orphaned and alone, thirteen-year-old Blackie O'Neill must leave North Kerry to find work and put food in his mouth. His only chance of survival lies with his mother's brother, far away in Leeds. There, amid the noise and bustle, the mills and manufactories of the clothing industry that have made Leeds one of England's most prosperous cities, Blackie's spark of ambition becomes a flame. Working in his uncle's business, he nurtures a dream of throwing...