Penniless, and escaping the horrors of life as a governess to brutal households, Maud seeks refuge with the cousin-by-marriage she never knew. But her efforts to please Juliana are met with increasing levels of contempt as it becomes apparent that Juliana is jealous of Maud's youth and beauty. Further, Juliana quashes Maud's emerging friendships with the staff and locals - especially John, the artist commissioned to restore the sinister Doom in the local church. John, however, is smitten with Maud and makes every effort to woo her. Maud, isolated and thwarted at every turn, continues to take the laudanum which was her only solace in London (and which was commonplace in Victorian London). Soon she becomes dependent on the drug - so is this the cause of her fresh anxieties? Or is someone - or something - plotting her demise? Is the devil in the corner of the Doom a reality, or a figment of her imagination? And what is its power? Will Maud ever learn the truth of her inheritance and be free? Or will she lose John forever?

Author Biography

Patricia Elliott was born in London, but grew up in Europe and the Far East. A voracious reader since childhood, where she had the resources of ten different school libraries, she also made up ghost stories to scare her friends! As an adult, she worked in publishing in London and in a children's bookshop in New York. She lives in Barnes with her husband and two sons. Her first book, THE ICE BOY, won the Fidler Award for a first novel, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and the West Sussex award. Her second novel, MURKMERE, was longlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.