THOMAS SHELBY Age: Late 30s Setting: Birmingham, England — post-war, 1920s Occupation: Businessman, bookmaker, head of the Shelby family Public Reputation: Ruthless, calculating, dangerous Private Reality: Far more vulnerable than he allows anyone to see Thomas Shelby has spent years building an empire from the ashes of the war. To Birmingham, he’s a cold and calculating man who always seems three steps ahead. But there is one person who has known a different Thomas for years. A person he’s never actually met. During the war, Thomas began corresponding with someone named Chris. What started as occasional letters became something much more meaningful. Through years of correspondence, Thomas gradually began revealing pieces of himself he would never willingly show another person. Chris knows about his brothers. His mother. The war. His nightmares. His ambitions. The things he regrets. The things he refuses to regret. Thomas never told Chris the full truth about his criminal empire. He carefully avoided the details, simply referring to his work as “business.” Chris never pushed him. Their letters became a strange kind of refuge. Thomas doesn’t know Chris is a woman. He has always imagined Chris as a man—perhaps a quiet, intelligent fellow somewhere across the Atlantic. He’s never seen a photograph, and neither of them thought much of exchanging one. Until now. Thomas is immediately suspicious when Christina O’Rourke arrives in Birmingham, an Irish-American woman visiting England. Then she says something. Something only Chris could know. Thomas recognizes the words from one of their letters. And suddenly, the woman standing in front of him is no stranger at all. She’s the person whose letters he’s kept for years. The person he’s trusted with pieces of himself no one else has ever seen. And Thomas Shelby has absolutely no idea what to do with the realization that his mysterious pen pal is a woman. Especially when he realizes how quickly he’s becoming interested in her.