Some Dark Force
A Victorian Thriller by Christina Boufis and Victoria Olsen
Forthcoming summer 2025! Stay tuned for pre-order info.
Christina Boufis and Victoria Olsen hold Ph.D.s in English literature with expertise in Victorian and women’s studies. They have each published fiction and nonfiction, and began collaborating thirty years ago with On the Market, a collection of essays about the academic job market (Riverhead Books). They work together from their homes on the West and East coasts.
Step into the foggy streets of 1888 London where evil lurks beneath a veneer of progress.
A brutal murderer calling himself Jack the Ripper preys on women in Whitechapel in London’s east end. Who can stop him?
Lucy Rutherford, the daughter of a powerful lord, is plagued by strange dreams and nocturnal wanderings that upend her privileged world. Lurking in the shadows is an immortal fiend with a thirst for vengeance—a monstrous force that will stop at nothing to claim Lucy as his own.
As London reels, Lucy forms an unlikely alliance with Maude Hepworth, a doctor's wife harboring secrets of her own. Together, they are drawn into a web of conspiracy that reaches from the glittering salons of Mayfair to the squalid tenements of the East End.
Will Lucy be the next victim? Will evil continue to reign unchecked in London? Or will Lucy and Maude and a band of like-minded women be able to stop the dark forces?
Some Dark Force is a richly atmospheric novel that weaves together historical fact and fantasy in a spine-tingling tale of murder, madness, and the supernatural. This meticulously researched historical thriller, immerses readers in Victorian London in all its glory and squalor.
From the workings of Scotland Yard to the pioneering efforts of early feminists, Some Dark Force offers a fresh perspective on the Ripper murders and the tumultuous close of the 19th century, as women like Lucy and Maude challenge the confines of their roles.