Andrea Berthot

Andrea Berthot reimagines the legacy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde in The Heartless City, the opening Gold and Gaslight Chronicles novel. Set in quarantined London in 1903, the story follows seventeen-year-old empath Elliot Morrissey and American waitress Iris Faye while they trace the forces sustaining a citywide transformation crisis. Curiosity Quills Press first issued the teen historical fantasy in August 2015. Berthot combines Edwardian social constraints, speculative science, steampunk touches, and a dual-character perspective, making emotional perception central to Elliot's role. The book begins a three-volume sequence continued by The Hypnotic City and The Hysterical City, though its immediate plot reaches a resolution. A 2017 Tantor Audio edition was narrated by Antony Ferguson. Berthot's genre crossing lets the setting carry both adventure and social inquiry: the altered London isolates its residents physically, while class expectations and restricted opportunities shape what Iris, Elliot, and their allies can do inside the quarantine.