Publisher's Synopsis
The novel opens as a group of friends sit around the fireplace of an old house in 1890s England, telling ghost stories. A man named Griffin tells a ghost story featuring a little boy, and a man named Douglas proposes to tell a true story about two children. He keeps the manuscript of the story locked in a drawer at home in London. It was written by a woman, now dead, who was once his younger sister's governess and with whom he was in love. Three days later, the manuscript arrives by the post, and Douglas begins his story.Before reading the manuscript, Douglas explains that the young woman had interviewed for her first governess job with a gentleman on London's Harley Street. She was quite smitten with him, and he was able to convince her to accept the position of governess to his niece and nephew at his country house Bly. The previous governess has died and the boy is now away at school and the girl in the care of the housekeper. There is one condition: She cannot contact him at any time and must deal with all problems herself.The governess arrives at Bly, where she is met by a beautiful little girl, eight-year-old Flora, and the housekeeper Mrs. Grose. The boy, ten-year-old Miles, will return from school in a few days. The night before his arrival, the governess receives a letter from the headmaster of his school refusing to allow Miles to return to school after the summer holiday. Mrs. Grose assures that Miles is too good a boy to have done anything to deserve expulsion, and the governess agrees to meet the boy before drawing any conclusions
