Description

An American woman and her son unearth the buried secrets and past lives of an English manor house in this masterful and riveting novel from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Belfer

Infused with the brooding gothic atmosphere of Jane Eyre or Rebecca a novel that must be savored one page at a timeMelanie Benjamin author of The Childrens Blizzard

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR The New York Times

How many lives can you imagine yourself living

So Hannah Larson wonders When a close relative falls ill Hannah and her young son Nicky decide to join him for the summer at Ashton Hall a historic manor house outside Cambridge England Hannah gave up her academic career to raise her beloved child who is neurodivergent and experiences the world differently from others and shes grateful to escape her life in New York City where her marriage has been upended by a devastating betrayal

Soon after their arrival evercurious Nicky discovers the skeletal remains of a woman in a forgotten walledoff wing of the manor and Hannah is pulled into an allconsuming quest for answers Working from clues in centuriesold ledgers and the personal papers of the longdeparted family Hannah begins to recreate the Ashton Hall of the Elizabethan era in all its color and conflict As the secrets of her own life begin to unravel and the rewards and complications of being Nickys mother come into focus Hannah realizes that Ashton Halls women before her had lives not so different from her own She confronts what women throughout history have had to do to control their own destinies and protect their children

Rich with passion strength and ferocity across the ages Ashton Hall is a novel that reveals how the most profound hauntings are within ourselves