Summer 1924 On the eve of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again Winter 1999 Grace Bradley, 98, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide Ghosts awaken and memories, long-consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks A shocking secret threatens to emerge something history has forgotten but Grace never could