A Time to Change (Mandeville Mystery 1)

Louisa Arnold has always loved Hill House. As a little girl she played in the derelict manor’s overgrown gardens and peered through its cracked ballroom windows, hoping to glimpse spectral lords and ladies dancing within. The tragic story of the wealthy former owners, the Mandevilles, even inspired her to want to teach history. But, trapped by the hardship she grew up in, Lou fears that dream is forever out of reach.

After a terrible loss, Lou runs to hide within the house’s ruined halls. To her astonishment, Hill House begins to transform around her – in place of rotting floors and sagging ceilings, are vast silk rugs of embroidered roses and majestic crystal chandeliers. Maids and footmen flit busily around her – is Lou dreaming, or could she actually be standing in this place as it was a hundred years ago?

Lou is mystified by the warm welcome she receives as a guest of the illustrious Mandeville family. Over tea parties and shoots, banquets and dancing, she’s suddenly living the life she always dreamed of. And, though she tries to fight it, she’s increasingly drawn to the Mandeville heir, Thomas – whose heart-breaking fate she knows well from the pages of history.

As Lou falls more in love with this world that she never imagined could be hers, the truth about Hill House and the destiny of its family begins to unravel around her. Will the past run its stubborn course, swallowing Lou in its wake, or can she save this beautiful place and the people she’s come to treasure from certain ruin?

A heart-breaking, beautiful, emotional and unputdownable read, for fans of The Time Traveller’s Wife , Fiona Valpy and Lucinda Riley.