---

A young servant girl desperate to learn. An ambitious philosopher in search of the truth.
A story lost from history. The Costa-shortlisted debut, perfect for fans of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Miniaturist.

---

THE TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD THE AUTHORS´ CLUB BEST FIRS NOVEL AWARD

The Words in My Hand is the reimagined true story of Helena Jans, a Dutch maid in 17th century Amsterdam working for an English bookseller. One day a mysterious and reclusive lodger arrives - the Monsieur - who turns out to be René Descartes.

At first encounter the maid and the philosopher seem to have little in common, yet Helena yearns for knowledge and literacy - wanting to write so badly that she uses beetroot for ink and her body as paper.

And the philosopher, for all his learning, finds that it is Helena who reveals the surprise in the everyday world that surrounds him, as gradually their relationship deepens in a surprising story of love and learning.

´Excellent . . . an entirely unsentimental love story with a memorable and engaging heroine. Clever and touching´ The Times
´An accomplished first novel . . . Glasfurd brilliantly dissects the complex frustrations of a woman in love with a man consumed by intellectual obsessions. There is much to move us here´ Guardian

-------------------------------

Pre-order Guinevere Glasfurd´s new novel The Year Without Summer, the story of a world changed by one cataclysmic event, now.

---

Excellent... The novel is based on enigmatic references to Helena and her illegitimate child in biographies of Descartes - she is the unseen woman behind the great man. Glasfurd has created an entirely unsentimental love story, with a memorable and engaging heroine. She takes the narrowness of Helena´s life and her kicks against its confines, and spins them into an original tale. The Times (Book of the Month)

---

Glasfurd, GuinevereAuthor Guinevere Glasfurd was born in Lancaster and lives near Cambridge with her husband and daughter.

Her debut novel, The Words in My Hand, was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa First Novel Award and Authors´ Club Best First Novel Award and was longlisted in France for the Prix du Roman FNAC.

Her second novel, The Year Without Summer, written with support from the MacDowell Colony Foundation, publishes early 2020 and tells the story of the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption and the catastrophic events that followed. Awarded grants from the Arts Council England and the British Council for her novels, her writing has also appeared in the Scotsman, Mslexia and The National Galleries of Scotland.

She is currently working on her third novel, a story of the Enlightenment, set in eighteenth century England and France.

---