'Impressive' The Times

'An enormous treat . . . beautifully vivid, claustrophobic and macabre . . . a masterful page-turner'Bridget Collins, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding

'A chilling, atmospheric read' Woman's Own

Not every house is a home...

Belinda Bainbridge has spent her life in the shadow of her anxious mother, so when her father-in-law dies at The Bridge, his remote ancestral seat, she is secretly thrilled. His death means she, her husband Wilfred and their children can relocate and finally begin to create their own happy home together: born a merchant's daughter, she will now be lady of the manor.

But their new home quickly proves far from ideal. The garden is a wilderness, the estate is struggling financially, there are whispers about the mysterious death of a servant many years before while their young son, Freddy, seems unusually fixated on the strange wooden figures – so-called 'silent companions' – that were once owned by his ancestors.

When Wilfred's charismatic brother, Nathan, arrives unexpectedly from abroad, bringing a very different account of the family's past, Belinda begins to question what her husband has told her. What really lies behind the sad history of the house?

And are Belinda's children truly safe here?

The outstanding new haunted house story from Sunday Times bestseller and multi-award winner, Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions, who has reignited readers' passion for classic gothic tales for a new audience.

'Laura Purcell really is a master of the unsettling ghost story' Jen Williams