Dark secrets haunt the manor house at Selden in Buckinghamshire where Emilie Selden motherless fiercely intelligent & beautiful has been raised in near isolation by her father. John Selden student of Isaac Newton is conducting a secret experiment. He aims to turn Emilie into a brilliant natural philosopher & alchemist & fills her with knowledge while recording every step she takes. In the spring of 1725 when Emilie is eighteen father & daughter begin their most daring adventure
- an attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But they are interrupted by the arrival of two strangers. During the course of a sultry August Emilie is caught up in the passion of first love & listening for the first time to her heart rather than her head she makes her choice...with consequences that are far-reaching & tumultuous.