An authentic Victorian gothic novel as fascinating as it is terrifying.

It's time to spread her wings and seek new experiences after a year of mourning. That's what the restless Charlotte Hayhurst thinks. Berkhamsted has become to...

An authentic Victorian gothic novel as fascinating as it is terrifying.

It's time to spread her wings and seek new experiences after a year of mourning. That's what the restless Charlotte Hayhurst thinks. Berkhamsted has become too small for her, especially since she went to visit her wealthy aunt and uncle at Watlington Manor, where she met a renowned alienist with whom she discussed the fascinating new methods of moral therapy for treating lunatics.

After the death of her stepmother, it is she who has taken over the hospice she ran, her father and her half-sister Heather. Her father will not object, for, despite the rigid rules that corset women even more than the oppressive garment they are forced to wear, he has brought up his daughters to be strong, independent women.

His mind is made up: he will go his own way, it's time. But when he tells Heather, a quiet, loving and religious girl, she reacts in an unexpected way: she cannot do without her sister, so she will go with her to Fairfield Hospital, in Bedforshire, where a hard job as attendants awaits them... and a terrible fate.