A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black & The Fall of the House of Usher 1891. In a remote & crumbling New England mansion 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle & banned from reading. Left to her own devices she devours books in secret & talks to herself
- & narrates this her story
- in a unique language of her own invention. By night she sleepwalks the corridors like one of the old house's many ghosts & is troubled by a recurrent dream in which a mysterious woman appears to threaten her younger brother Giles. Sometimes Florence doesn't sleepwalk at all but simply pretends to so she can roam at will & search the house for clues to her own baffling past. After the sudden violent death of the children's first governess a second teacher Miss Taylor arrives & immediately strange phenomena begin to occur. Florence becomes convinced that the new governess is a vengeful & malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm. Against this powerful supernatural enemy & without any adult to whom she can turn for help Florence must use all her intelligence & ingenuity to both protect her little brother & preserve her private world. Inspired by & in the tradition of Henry James' s The Turn of the Screw Florence & Giles is a gripping gothic page-turner told in a startlingly different & wonderfully captivating narrative voice.