Author(s): Clare Boylan

Fiction

When Charlotte Bronte died in 1855, she had written the first two chapters of a new novel, which introduced a lost girl and signalled the author's most compelling work since Jane Eyre. Now, almost 150 years later, Clare Boylan has returned to this intriguing beginning and turned it into an astonishing story of mystery, atmosphere and page-turning suspense.

The arrival of Conway Fitzgibbon at Fuchsia Lodge with his daughter Matilda is a source of delight to the headmistress, Miss Wilcox. The unsuccessful ladies' school is eager for new pupils, particularly one so finely dressed and boasting a father who is 'quite the gentlemen'. But as Christmas approaches, and Miss Wilcox inquires about arrangements for the holidays, she is in for a shock. Conway Fitzgibbon, like the address he left behind, does not exist . . .