House of shadows
By: Nicola Cornick
Publisher: HARPER COLLINS
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 476
ISBN-13: 9781848454163
Subjects: Courtesans; Investigation; Inheritance and succession; Mirrors; Missing persons; Pearls; Ashdown House (England); Fiction
Description: 1662. On the eve of her death Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, gives her faithful cavalier William Craven an ancient pearl with magical properties to keep safe for her rightful heir. 1801. Notorious Regency courtesan Lavinia Flyte comes to Ashdown Park with her protector, Lord Evershot, who is intent on discovering the Winter Queen's treasures. Evershot's search will unleash all the power and the danger that has lain dormant for 150 years. 2014. Holly Ansell is astonished when a chance acquaintance bequeaths to her a battered mirror that is reputed to have once belonged to the Winter Queen. Following clues left by her brother, who has disappeared, Holly goes to Ashdown Park and discovers the diary of a Regency courtesan and with it a mystery that spans four centuries. Where is the fabled pearl that Elizabeth gave to William Craven? What happened to Lavinia Flyte? And who is the Winter Queen's rightful heir?