‘What a terrific novel. I really enjoyed it and became deeply involved in the lives of the two heroines.’
Elizabeth Buchan, bestselling author of The Museum of Broken Promises

They say the past is a different country. But not everything changes.

It is a hot day in Elizabethan York, and young Nell Appleby is trapped in a wooden chest. The horror of the stifling dark - and of the man who has trapped her - will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Years later, wed to the sadistic Ralph Maskewe, Nell must find joy where she can. But when her childhood sweetheart returns and offers a chance of flight to the New World, Nell is faced with a dangerous decision. Will she risk all to escape the dark at last?

Four and a half centuries later, Tess and her small son Oscar move to York. Eager to start a new life away from her overbearing and manipulative husband Martin, Tess tries to put her marriage behind her. But in York, time has a way of shifting strangely, and memories of a past that is not her own begin to surface - with disturbing effect.

Living two lives, torn between two worlds, Tess must unlock the secrets of the past before she can free herself - and Nell - once and for all.