San Francisco, 1850. A city of sudden fortunes, desperate lives and secrets that cannot safely be entrusted to the living.

Aidan O’Reilly arrives in the restless young city as an undertaker. Yet his true business is something altogether different. For those wealthy enough to require discretion, he provides places where stolen gold, forged documents, illicit fortunes and inconvenient histories can remain hidden.

Then he meets Kate Cooper, a young woman whose extraordinary gift for numbers makes her invaluable—and whose courage makes her something more. Together they build a life and a business as San Francisco is transformed around them by fire, cholera, corruption and violence.

As cemeteries are emptied to make way for profitable land, vigilantes patrol the streets and the city’s most vulnerable are forced to fight for survival, Aidan and Kate find themselves drawn deeper into a world where morality is rarely simple and every secret has a price.

Praise for The Secret-Keeper’s Shipwreck

Jess Wells’s novel The Secret Keeper’s Shipwreck is a gripping, well researched and skillfully crafted historical fiction with gritty worldbuilding. I particularly enjoyed its main characters, Aidan and Kate who bring the history of San Francisco in the Gold Rush days vividly to life. Aidan’s thoughts and emotions are skillfully interwoven as they come up with ways to turn situations to their advantage, fighting their way through terrifying and disastrous losses. What an amazing story. The end is out of this world. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy stories of the West, California and the Gold Rush. – Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers’ Favorite

Author Jess Wells made sure readers experience the San Francisco Gold Rush. The narrative was so strong with such vivid details that I could feel the excitement and utter danger. I could smell the mud and feel the chaos of the city from the very first page. Aidan is morally gray, resourceful, and quick on his feet. Kate is an absolute powerhouse of a character. The author incorporated research into the story perfectly –terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time. The pace was perfect. The Secret-Keeper’s Shipwreck is an outstanding historical novel, and fans of the genre will love it! – Reviewed by Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite

The Secret-Keeper’s Shipwreck is a well written, well-researched novel. Jess Wells has created a wonderful story around a collection of eccentric and shady characters that actually existed in early San Francisco and has given them a colorful, fictional interaction. The author has a firm grasp on the recorded history of the period, and this gives the work an air of authority and believability. This is a great read and one I highly recommend. – Grant Leishman for Readers’ Favorite

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