Ex-Coronation Street director’s first novel takes us back to the turbulent beginning of the 20th Century

Kay Patrick used her experience from writing historical radio documentaries to put together her first novel, The Trial of Marie Montrecourt. “Some years ago, I’d been researching Victorian crime and came across a case that fascinated me,” explains Kay. “I used some of the incidents to create a story of my own, setting it in the Edwardian period – a time of hope, change, and political corruption.”1899 and Marie Montrecourt arrives in Harrogate from France, an eighteen-year-old, penniless orphan, facing an uncertain future and knowing little of her past. Meanwhile in London, Evelyn Harringdon