A gripping and powerful novel from the author of best - selling The Sound of Butterflies. ''There were two rumours surrounding my great - great - grandfather Henry Summers: one, that his cabinet of curiosities drove him mad; and, two, that he murdered his first wife.'' Rosemary Summers is an amateur taxidermist and a passionate collector of tattoos. To her, both activities honour the deceased and keep their memory alive. After the death of her beloved grandfather, and while struggling to finish her thesis on gothic Victorian novels, she returns alone to Magpie Hall to claim her inheritance: Grandpa's own taxidermy collection, started more than 100 years ago by their ancestor Henry Summers. As Rosemary sorts through Henry's legacy, the ghosts of her family's past begin to make their presence known.