Publisher's Synopsis
1922. Since the Great War, Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a rare bookshop alongside her octogenarian employer and housemate in Exeter. She thought that she had consigned painful incidents and places like Penryth Hall, deep in the Cornish countryside, to the distant past. Returning in the course of her work to the hall, home to a once dear friend, Tamsyn, means Ruby must also cross paths with Tamsyn's husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. Ruby couldn't be more eager to leave, but her plans change when Penryth's bells ring for the first time in thirty years, heralding the fact that Edward has been killed and setting off whispers of a returned curse. The murder also prompts Ruby's involvement with Ruan Kivell, who the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn't believe in curses or Pellars but to the villagers, the curse is anything but lore. To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.
