Passed on to me by a friend.

From the blurb:

"1913: On the eve of the First World War a little girl is found abandoned after a gruelling ocean voyage from England to Australia. All she can remember of the journey is that a mysterious woman she calls the Authoress had promised to look after her. But the Authoress had vanished without trace.

"1975: Now an old lady, Nell travels to England to discover the truth about her parentage. Her quest leads her to Cornwall, and to a beautiful estate called Blackhurst Manor, which had been owned by the Mountratchet family. What has prompted Nell's journey after all these years?

"2005: On Nell's death her granddaughter, Cassandra, comes into a surprise inheritance. Cliff Cottage, in the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, is notorious amongst the locals for the secrets it holds - secrets about the doomed Mountratchet family. But it is at Cliff Cottage, abandoned for years, and in its forgotten garden, that Cassandra will uncover the truth about the family and why the young Nell was abandoned all those decades before."

I didn't enjoy this as much as The House at Riverton, but as they are quite similar in style I may have enjoyed it more had I not read them so closely together. The plot dragged in places, and sometimes skipped too quickly between the different characters and decades, but overall it was a good, quick read.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On usual shelf.