First published 2010
William Trenchard hears the garden gate creak on an autumn afternoon in 1882. A stranger approaches his door with an impossible claim. The man calls himself James Norton, supposedly the fiancé of William's wife Constance who killed himself eleven years earlier. Norton's arrival throws William's comfortable life into chaos. William must confront the possibility that his wife still loves another man, one who should be dead. The visitor forces William to question everything he believes about his marriage and his past. As Norton presses his case, William discovers that the Davenall family harbors secrets that run deeper than he imagined. The truth about what happened eleven years ago will shatter William's understanding of those closest to him.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: England, Davenall Family
Period: 1882
608 pages · Unknown Binding · Transworld Digital