Beneath the still quiet of rural England as the century turned lay a complex and fatally linked series of destinies. The mistress of Fiennders Abbey was often pleased to have her corsets loosened by the estate gardener. Her elder son, Richard, never forgot his true childhood love - Mary - the daughter of the Fiennders' trusted gamekeeper. The world was changing: pony, trap and track gave way to motor car and road. Class divisions and prejudices were heightened even as the new century promised to end them. Here in Fiennders Abbey, the internationally renowned actress and writer Jean Marsh has written an extraordinarily gripping novel of emotional and social upheaval in an apparently timeless community with considerable elegance, thought and wit. 'Jean Marsh's treatment of character is warm and her descriptions of period and place enjoyably detailed' The Times 'A very special book' Elizabeth Buchan

Author Biography

A Londoner by birth, Jean Marsh has spent most of her adult life in Oxfordshire and New York. She is best known for her Emmy-winning role as Rose Buck in Upstairs, Downstairs, which she co-created with Eileen Atkins, and in which she reappeared in the BBC's 2010 three-part remake of the series. She has acted in a wide variety of shows on stage, in film and television. Her performances have included works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen and Coward. Articles by Jean Marsh have appeared in the Sunday Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and the TV Times. She enjoys good food and walking.