After getting some story revisions and a more hopeful ending,[1] the novel was published (by Canongate) in hardback in the UK in 2002, with a paperback edition following the next year.

Canongate also published The Apple, a selection of short stories based on characters from The Crimson Petal and the White, in 2006.

Agnes, the consummate Victorian "female ideal" of naive and delicate femininity, has been kept completely in the dark on sexual matters.

Her diaries express utter confusion over events like menstruation (which she believes is a demon who returns periodically to "bleed" her), pregnancy, sex, or childbirth: she does not even acknowledge her young daughter, Sophie, whom the household staff carefully keeps away from Agnes.

Outside of the house, few know of Agnes's madness (though knowledge of it spreads during the length of the story), as she generally presents herself as an inveterate hostess and socialite to the world during each season.

As William's fortunes climb with the help of Sugar's excellent business acumen, Agnes becomes increasingly eccentric (which the reader learns is due to a brain tumor but which those around her believe to be hysteria).

All the while, Agnes's mind begins to spiral into hallucinations of angels, and William retreats to the man's world of his business dealings.

The novel was generally well received by critics, with one review calling it "supremely literary" and describing the quality of the writing as "dizzyingly accomplished".