From the bestselling author of House of Shadows and The Phantom Tree comes a spellbinding tale of jealousy, greed, plotting and revengeâpart history, part mysteryâfor fans of Kate Morton, Susanna Kearsley and Barbara Erskine
London, 1765
Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.
Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, itâs clear this was not his intended victimâŠ
250 Years LaterâŠ
When a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at its foundations by the gownâs power over her until she can't tell what is real and what is imaginary.
As Fen uncovers more about the gown and Isabellaâs story, she begins to see the parallels with her own life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gownâand its pastâseems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic revelation set to destroy her sanity.