The Stopped Heart

In this dark and mesmerizing novel, a grieving couple seeks refuge in a country cottage. But the cottage has its own history of tragedy. Are the chilling memories trapped within its walls becoming their new reality?

Suffolk, England: During a vicious storm, a redheaded stranger appears outside a farmer’s cottage. The family takes him in—but he has no intention of leaving.

One hundred and fifty years later, a devastating tragedy prompts Mary and her husband to start a new life in the countryside. They move into a small cottage, drawn to its beautiful, overgrown garden. The house has been empty for years, but it’s remote, quiet, different—exactly what they need. Then it begins: children whispering, footsteps, a young man with red hair wandering through the orchard. As the stranger insinuates himself deeper into the farmer’s family, and also into the affections of the eldest daughter, Mary’s own sense of unease grows. She feels the past and present intertwining ever more tightly, but is grief twisting her mind? Or is the cottage, haunted by the horrific events of more than a century ago, not quite the rural sanctuary it seems?