If your idea of a good time is curling up with a gripping nineteenth-century domestic drama, give this novel a try. Irish author Amanda McKittrick Ros is known for her rich, lyrical, densely layered language – not to mention her knack for closely observed characters and juicy plots. Fans of Austen and the Bronte sisters will love this book.

This novel is written in a faint suggestion of the style of Jane Austen. It concerns a woman called Irene, her son John, Irene's adoptive parents Lord and Lady Dilworth, and a dour man bachelor of 40 named Sir Hugh Dunfern, the owner of Dunfern manor.