This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The autumn rain hammered against the windows of the train as Sarah Blackwood watched the English countryside blur past in shades of amber and rust. She clutched the letter in her gloved hands, reading it for the twentieth time since leaving London that morning. The parchment was thick and yellowed, bearing the seal of Hartwell & Associates, Solicitors.

Dear Miss Blackwood,

We regret to inform you of the passing of your great-aunt, Miss Cordelia Blackwood, on the fifteenth of October. As per the terms of her last will and testament, you are the sole beneficiary of her estate, including Ravenshollow Manor and all its contents. We request your immediate presence at the manor to complete the necessary paperwork and take possession of the property.

Your servant, Mr. James Hartwell, Esq.

Sarah had never met her great-aunt Cordelia, knew nothing of Ravenshollow Manor, and had no idea she even had living relatives beyond her immediate family. Her father had rarely spoken of his aunt, mentioning only in passing that she was a reclusive woman who had chosen to live apart from society. Now, at twenty-five, Sarah found herself the unexpected owner of what the solicitor's subsequent correspondence described as "a substantial estate in the Yorkshire Dales."

The train wheezed to a stop at Millfield Station, a tiny platform that seemed to exist solely to serve the scattered manor houses of the surrounding hills. Sarah gathered her valise and stepped onto the platform, where a weathered man in a dark coat waited beside a horse-drawn carriage.

"Miss Blackwood?" His voice was gruff but not unkind. "I'm Thomas Grimsby, caretaker of Ravenshollow. Come to fetch you, I have."

Sarah nodded and allowed him to help her into the carriage. As they drove through winding country lanes bordered by stone walls and gnarled oak trees, Grimsby spoke over the clatter of hooves.