Edward Savill, working in London in the 1790s as agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife Aug... (more)
Edward Savill, working in London in the 1790s as agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife Augusta has been killed in France, leaving behind ten-year-old Charles, who is brought to England to Charnwood Court, a house in the country leased by a group of emigre refugees. Savill is sent to retrieve the boy, though it proves easier to reach Charnwood than to leave. And only when Savill arrives there does he discover that Charles is mute, haunted by a terrible secret that leaves him unable to utter a word. (less)