The year is 1815, the setting England. In the wake of her father's death, young Kate Winslow comes to live at Hallow Hill, her younger sister Emily in tow. The girls settle in with their great aunts and try their best to fit into life on the mysterious estate, despite an unwelcoming guardian, the revelation of some dismaying family secrets and the uneasy feeling Kate gets one night, returning from a walk in the forest... These books provide examples of: