The Strange Fate Of Kitty Easton
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
When former infantry officer Laurence Bartram is called to the small village of Easton Deadall, he is struck by the beauty of the place: a crumbling stately home; a centuries-old church; and a recently planted maze, a memorial to the men of the village, almost all of whom died in one heroic battle in 1916.
But it soon becomes clear to Laurence that while rest of the country is alight with hope for the first time since the end of the War, as the first Labour government takes power, the Wiltshire village is haunted by its tragic past. In 1911, five-year-old Kitty Easton disappeared from her bed and has not been seen since: only her fragile mother believes still she is alive. When a family trip to the Empire Exhibition in London ends in disaster and things take an increasingly sinister turn, Laurence struggles to find out what has happened as it seems that the fate of the house, the men and of Kitty herself may be part of a much longer, darker story of love, betrayal - and violence.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1924, Speller's intriguing second mystery to feature WWI veteran Laurence Bartram (after 2011's The Return of Captain John Emmett) takes Bartram to Wiltshire, where disabled architect William Bolitho has invited him to view a church with unusual artistic and historical features on the grounds of Easton Hall. As Bolitho designs a maze and a stained-glass window to honor the men of the village who died in the war, Bartram becomes aware of tensions among members of the Easton family that stem from the 1911 disappearance of five-year-old Kitty Easton. While Kitty's delicate mother is convinced the girl is still alive, others speculate that she was murdered. After the family's maid vanishes and Bartram stumbles across a body in the church, the question of what really happened to Kitty re-emerges. The intelligent depiction of the many wounds of war, suffered not only in the trenches but also on the home front, resonates.
