Shadows & Lies

A London amnesiac researching her past discovers ties to a murder on a country estate in this mystery by the acclaimed author of The Shape of Sand.

It is the year 1910, and the bloodstained body of an unknown woman is found on the grounds of Sir Henry Chetwynd's Shropshire estate. A reluctant heir to the estate, Sebastian Chetwynd is already battling with divided loyalties: his ambition for a career of his own and his father's expectation that he follow in his footsteps, and his duty to marry for money when he is in love with Louisa, a student doctor and supporter of women's rights.


Unknown to the Chetwynds, there is Hannah, living in London, who has lost her memory of everything that happened in the dozen years previous to a serious accident. To unravel her past, Hannah writes down the story of her life as far as she can remember it. As she reaches out to grasp and piece together the fragments of those missing years, it seems that the ongoing murder investigation in Shropshire could hold the key.


Switching between troubled South Africa in the last years of the nineteenth century and the murder in England ten years later, Marjorie Eccles's delicate narrative reveals the lies and deceptions that have lain beneath the veneer of polite Edwardian society.

Praise for Shadows & Lies

"A satisfyingly complex stand-alone [mystery]. . . . Eccles's narrative skills and the myriad contextual details make it easy to forget the mysterious murder victim found on a Shropshire estate until pulled back by the episodic efforts of the police to solve the crime." —Publishers Weekly

"The always reliable Eccles weaves a spellbinding tale of deception, violence, tragedy, love, and loss." —Booklist