Journalist Harry Fitzglen is sceptical when his editor asks him to investigate the background of Simone Anderson, a new Bloomsbury artist. But once he's met the enigmatic Simone, Harry is intrigued. Just what did happen to Simone's twin sister who disappeared without trace? And what is the connection to another set of twin girls, Viola and Sorrel Quinton, born eighty years before?

All Harry's lines of enquiry seem to lead to the Shropshire village of Weston Fferna and the imposing ruin of Mortmain House, standing grim and forbidding on the Welsh borders. As Harry delves into the violent and terrible history of Mortmain, he finds himself drawn into a number of interlocking mysteries, each one more puzzling - and sinister - than the last.