Great storytelling in this novel set in what seems to be an alternative victorian-era UK. I'm not sure if the locations were real and I just don't know UK geography or if it was some kind of Ireland analogue. Miren is nearly the last of a once-powerful family which has suffered a great decline in fortune, and she not-so-secretly looks forward to the day very soon when she will be the last and able to free herself from the trappings of family obligations and legacies. When it begins to look as though she might never be free, she takes matters into her own hands and stumbles onto a clue which might unlock family secrets. There's a lot of mystery that unfolds at just the right pace, enough action to keep the plot moving along believably, and some really wonderful storytelling giving flavor to the mystical and magical world Miren lives in. I can't think of much to fault this book for, other than perhaps it being a little dark. I can't wait to read more by A.G. Slatter.