Sarah is devastated when her lover Dominic betrays her, and to help her recovery she takes a job writing the history of an old manor house, once the home of her father's ancestors, now owned by an American University. Here she becomes immersed in the poignant story of her family, and in particular of Robert, Lord Harlaston, who may have been her grandfather. Was he the callous seducer of an innocent village maiden, or was there some deeper, more passionate mystery in the story of Robert and Charity, Sarah's grandmother, who was brought up in the shadow of Harlaston Manor? From present-day London to the misty Lincolnshire fens, from the battles of the Boer War to the rigid hierarchies of a small village in Edwardian times, this sweeping novel tells a breathtaking story of a family and its mysteries.

Author Biography

Michelle Paver was born in Malawi; her father was South African and her mother is Belgian. They moved to England when she was small and she was brought up in Wimbledon, where she still lives. After gaining a first in biochemistry at Oxford she became a lawyer and was until recently a partner of a large City law firm, specialising in patent litigation. She has now given up the law to write full-time. She is the author of Without Charity, A Place in the Hills, The Shadow Catcher, Fever Hill and The Serpent's Tooth, all of which are available in Corgi paperback. She is also the bestselling author of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness sequence for children. For more information about Michelle Paver and her books, please visit her official website at www.michellepaver.com