by Jane Harris
First published 2007
Bessy Buckley arrives at a crumbling Scottish estate outside Edinburgh with nothing but her sharp wit and a determination to escape her troubled past in Ireland. The fifteen-year-old takes work as a maid for Arabella, a striking woman who lives in the once-magnificent country house. Bessy thinks she has found safety, but her new mistress makes an unusual request. Arabella asks her to record her private thoughts in a daily journal. Bessy agrees, seeing no harm in the task. As she writes, she begins to notice strange occurrences around the house. Her entries reveal more than she intended, and she stumbles upon a disturbing truth about her employer's real intentions. The journal that was meant to document her new life becomes evidence of a sinister scheme. Bessy realizes she has traded one dangerous situation for another, perhaps worse than what she left behind. She must use her street-smart instincts to navigate the treacherous dynamics of the household before she becomes trapped permanently.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Edinburgh, Ireland, Scotland
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
406 pages · Paperback · Penguin Publishing Group
Content warnings: abuse