Binding: Paperback
Date Published: 01 Sep 2025
Present Day
During a lavish wedding at her husband Nico’s ancestral home, Armstrong House, Kate Collins is intrigued when a mysterious stranger presents a photograph taken at a ball there in 1923. The photograph is of Clara, Nico’s grandfather’s first wife, who is known to have fled Ireland and her marriage two years before that date, after the house was set on fire during the War of Independence. As Kate investigates this puzzling discrepancy, she and Nico are stunned as the sins that remained buried for over a century come back to haunt them.
1923
After escaping from her unhappy marriage to Lord Pierce Armstrong and the fire at their stately home, Clara is starting a new life in London. But, when tragedy strikes in Ireland, she returns to Pierce and Armstrong House. With the country on a knife edge during the Civil War, Clara doesn’t know who to trust as the deception of those closest to her becomes progressively menacing – and someone seems willing to go to any lengths to make sure she never leaves again.
Present Day
As Kate unearths the truth, she discovers how love, money, envy, and greed culminated on one terrifying night a century ago.