Twins Maisy and Duncan live in limbo with a seemingly cold hearted father and a very unwell and depressed mother who spends all her time in bed. To their horror she is taken by force off to an Asylum, explained by their father as being 'for her own good'.
Their father moves them from London, without any explanations, and takes them to their Grandmother's home, Nightingales. Grandmother is a carbon copy of her son, disinterested, cold hearted, but perhaps only superficially. With a private tutor the twins begin to experience freedom and for the first time, love, from Janice, the housekeeper.
They cycle, they explore the forest, and find a small shack where lives a lady said by the village to be 'cracked' At first she ends them packing but gradually a relationship is built up and trust begins.
The horror begins when Duncan doesn't return from one of his forays, and no one seems to take it seriously except for his twin and the 'woman in the woods'.
It's a powerful and sometimes deeply unpleasant novel, with descriptions of the torture and paedophilia. How Maisy takes over the rescues is compelling, and one finds oneself backing her all the way, although at times I found it faintly unbelievable. The eventual changes in the family relationships are well drawn and one feels a certain sympathy for the apparent hardness of Father and grandmother as they begin to change and to realise that the twins need to see their mother and have things explained to them.
It's another super Lesley Pearse story.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a review. I will send a review to Amazon as soon as they accept reviews for this book.

I absolutely adore Lesley's books and this one I got totally lost in. With great characters and storylines which were harrowing at times.

Twins Maisy and Duncan are sent to live with their grandmother at the family home, Nightingales when their mother is admitted to an asylum. At first they are scared and lonely, missing their mother and all that they know. They discover they love the countryside and playing in the nearby forest. They also spy on the local "witch" who lives in a cottage there. They come to realise Grace's bark is worse than her bite and Duncan forms a friendship with her. One day Duncan goes missing...and when young boys bodies are found Maisy believes the police aren't doing enough to find him. Maisy with Grace's help investigates...A great read which I couldn't put down. Highly recommend!

Not your normal read by this author but brilliant all the same, read in one sitting, totally gripping read, absolutely love Lesley Pearce.