The Beholders

'Held me completely in its thrall until the very last line' SUSAN STOKES-CHAPMAN, bestselling author of Pandora 'A well-researched and thoroughly convincing page-turner' LAURA SHEPPERSON, bestselling author of The Heroines A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin. Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she grew up, Harriet is entranced by the grand country hall; she is entranced too by her glamorous mistress Clara Gethin, whose unearthly singing voice floats through the house. But Clara, though captivating, is erratic. The master of the house is a much-lauded politician, but he is strangely absent. And some of their beautiful belongings seem to tell terrible stories. Unable to ignore her growing...