First published 2001
Lady Mason forged a will twenty years ago—and now everything is unraveling. When the original Orley Farm estate's inheritance comes under scrutiny, she faces potential criminal prosecution that could destroy her social standing and her son's future. As legal proceedings commence, her past fraud threatens to consume not just her family but the complex social networks of mid-Victorian England. Old secrets emerge, reputations hang in delicate balance, and Lady Mason must decide whether to admit her long-ago transgression or continue fighting. At its heart, this is a story of a mother's desperate love confronting the unforgiving machinery of legal and social judgment.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century, legal-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, legal-drama, mother-son-relationship
Setting: England
Period: 19th-Century
825 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press