Jessica is mourning the loss of her husband and is invited to stay for the summer at the Rengsby’s Manor in England. Jessica’s parents worked there years ago until the mysterious disappearance of her elder sister Jane. Jessica feels increasingly uncomfortable with the Rengsby’s as the days go on. Caroline, the daughter is intangible, Peter, the son, says he is in love with her, the parents are just weird. Slowly, buried memories of her childhood emerge, and she realises that Sir Mathew abused her, something that the whole family is aware of. From then on, weird events add on, to come to a really sordid ending. Weird and frightening but I loved it.
“Life was ephemeral. The sunny normality of everyday things, the sweet reality of, say, the aroma of coffee on a late Sunday morning or the sound of children playing in a park, was an illusion. It was a thin curtain that could shred at any moment to reveal a stark and terrifying truth. Death is more powerful than life. It snuffs out the strongest heartbeat, chills the hottest blood. It is supreme.”