Winner of the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction, now a Penguin Essential

Catherine and her brother, Rob, don’t know why they have been abandoned by their parents. Incarcerated in the enormous country house of their grandfather - ‘the man from nowhere’ - they create a refuge against their family’s dark secrets - and the outside world as it moves towards the First World War. As time passes their sibling love deepens and crosses into forbidden territory - but they are not as alone in the house as they believe…