The Room Beyond by Stephanie Elmas. amzn.to/1bmtSvq
Both a modern day ghost story and a Victorian chiller, The Room Beyond weaves two timeframes together to unravel the secrets of one aristocratic family over a century. It centres on a West London mansion – 36 Marguerite Avenue – a romantic house rich in family portraits, elegant rooms, and endless corridors full of lingering whispers. In the present day, the young artist Serena is entranced by it from the moment she is taken on as a nanny there, falling in love with its atmosphere and becoming intrigued by the eccentric glamour of its inhabitants. But the book also transports us to the same street in 1892, where the past is more chilling than she could have imagined, and the fate of two women – the beautiful renegade Lucinda and the ‘good wife’ Miranda - will have haunting consequences that reach out from the past into Serena’s life.
Author website: www.stephanieelmas.com