1852. When Margaret Lennox, a young widow, is offered a position as governess at Hartwood Hall, she quickly accepts, hoping this isolated country house will allow her to leave the past behind.But she soon feels there's something odd about Hartwood: strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants and a wing of the house no one uses.Why do the locals eye her employer, widowed Mrs Evesham, with suspicion? What is hidden in the abandoned East Wing? Who are the strangers coming and going under darkness?

Summer 1841. It is marriage season in the county of Wickenshire, and Miss Amelia Ashpoint isn’t sure she can face yet another ball. But now that she has reached the grand age of three-and-twenty, time is (apparently) running out. Her father is anxious to secure her a husband and has set his sights on Mr Montgomery Hurst of Radcliffe Park.Only, Mr Hurst has just announced his engagement to somebody else.To the great consternation of Wickenshire, a community that thrives on gossip, the county’s most eligible bachelor is about to marry not only an unknown stranger – but a widow with three children, odd manners and no ancestry to speak of. Society is appalled and intrigued.....