London, 1903. Two women are hanged in Holloway Prison for killing babies. More than thirty years later, their crimes resurface with shocking consequences. When Josephine Tey sets out to write a novel about Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious Finchley baby farmers sentenced to death for a string of newborn murders, she has no idea that the research for her book will be used in the investigation of a modern-day killing—the sadistic murder of a young seamstress, found dead in the studio of Tey's friends, the Motley sisters, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala.

While initially the death of the young girl, an ex-con trying to go straight, seems to be the result of a long-standing domestic feud, Josephine's friend, Inspector Archie Penrose, is not convinced. And when a second young woman is involved in a horrific accident soon afterwards, the search begins for a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to keep the past where it belongs. Moving between the decadence and glamour of a private women's club, the bleak surroundings of Holloway prison, and the deprivation of London's slums, Two for Sorrow is a dark and unsettling exploration of the way in which the crimes of the past destroy those left behind—long after justice is served.