this book tells the story of a young woman who leaves her home city of London to take up a nannying job for two children in the countryside. when she gets there, the children are the only obvious occupants of the house, and she has to investigate where their parents are and why most of their last seven nannies have ended up dead.

this book was okay! it was a fairly traditional, straight-forward horror trope of the new nanny in the countryside, the haunted house, the townspeople who know what happened in the house but don't want to tell her. i think it was fine; it didn't do anything new and it didn't really have any distinct scary moments that had me tucking my feet under a blankets, which it why it's getting three stars.

this would be good for someone who likes a more traditional scary story (that isn't too scary), ghosts, and that english countryside vibe.