As a child Jude suffered a recurrent nightmare running through a dark forest, crying for her mother Now her six-year-old niece, Summer, is having the same dream, and Jude is frightened for her A successful auctioneer, Jude is struggling to come to terms with the death of her husband When she's asked to value a collection of scientific instruments and manuscripts belonging to Anthony Wickham, a lonely 18th century astronomer, she leaps at the chance to escape London for the untamed beauty of Norfolk, where she grew up As Jude untangles Wickham's tragic story, she discovers threatening links to the present