A Search for a Secret

A Search for a Secret opens in the shadowed world of the Harmer family, where inheritance, faith, and buried motives shape a tale of Victorian suspense. Long loyal to the old Catholic religion, the Harmers have endured persecution, fines, and suspicion, yet their caution in politics has helped them survive and rise from modest landowners to the possessors of Harmer Place, an ancient estate heavy with history. Against this stern background, young Herbert Harmer rebels, fleeing a harsh home for the wider world he discovers in books and in the adventures of Robert Althorpe, a one-armed sailor. His travels take him to sea and to India, where he marries a Protestant woman and ultimately adopts her faith, creating a rupture that will haunt the family. Agnes, meanwhile, is drawn into a glittering society life in London, where her introduction to the world of balls, opera boxes, and social performance reveals both its pleasures and its rules. When death, secrecy, and broken romance strike the family, Dr. Ashleigh is pulled into a tragedy that deepens the mystery. As letters, legal plans, and ominous events unfold, the novel builds toward a dramatic revelation of the secret at the heart of Harmer Place. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.