When former infantry officer Laurence Bartram is called to the small village of Easton Deadall he is struck by the beauty of the place: a crumbling stately home; a centuries-old church; & a recently planted maze a memorial to the men of the village almost all of whom died in one heroic battle in 1916. But it soon becomes clear to Laurence that while rest of the country is alight with hope for the first time since the end of the War as the first Labour government takes power the Wiltshire village is haunted by its tragic past. In 1911 five-year-old Kitty Easton disappeared from her bed & has not been seen since: only her fragile mother believes still she is alive. When a family trip to the Empire Exhibition in London ends in disaster & things take an increasingly sinister turn Laurence struggles to find out what has happened as it seems that the fate of the house the men & of Kitty herself may be part of a much longer darker story of love betrayal
- & violence.