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What evil lies within a family's secret history? Timid, solitary librarian Gerard Freeman lives for just two things: his elusive pen pal, Alice, and a story he found hidden in his mother's drawer years ago. Written by his great-grandmother Viola, it hints at his mother's role in a sinister crime. And as he discovers more of Viola's chilling tales, he realizes that they might hold the key to finding Alice and unveiling his family's mystery. But upon returning to his ancestral home in England, Gerard finds that the stories-within-stories of his past begin to blur the lines between fact, fiction, and fantasy. They're also driving him so deep into the dark that he might not be able to see what's right in front of him until it's too late.
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Reviews
"Does [Alice] have some connection to Gerard's creepy, semi-insane mom? And to those Victorian horror tales that Gerard keeps stumbling across? What's she hiding, anyway? The answers are yes, yes, and wait and see. . . It's like A. S. Byatt's Possession. But without all that distracting poetry."
Time
"[Harwood's] novel is an homage, a Victorian ghost story that honors the likes of Dickens and Henry James. . . A smart, stylish and mesmerizing book."
The Washington Post Book World