Chance and bad weather led Deborah St. James and the vicar of Winslough to London's National Gallery to view Leonardo da Vinci's study for his Virgin and Child. The vicar's comment that Joseph is missing from the picture strikes a chord with Deborah, whose inability to bear a child has caused her deep grief and widened the growing rift between her and her husband.

When Heather is denied entrance to a seventeenth-century manor she becomes determined to sneak in where she finds the reason behind the rumors of witchcraft and evil which haunt the estate.

Libby Pulford escapes her abusive husband and takes her young son to Lancashire, where she can claim an inheritance if she spends six months living in her deceased grandmother's home. Her new neighbor, Joss Atherton, a retired policeman, takes it upon himself to protect Libby. Joss and Libby soon develop a mutual affection, but Joss has troubles of his own.

Lizzie Kershaw is an independent spirit. At twelve, she loses her father and her happy family life ends as her mother grows to resent her. Then circumstances push Lizzie into an early marriage, where she finds her mother's petty cruelties replaced by her husband's frequent beatings. But she is a survivor. When World War I breaks out, Lizzie's husband is forced to join up and she seizes the opportunity to run away. She finds independence and friendship...

"Blake continues the series Booklist calls "a solid winner" with a darkly rich mystery centered on an apparent suicide that leads Cragg and Fidelis down a treacherous path.The year is 1742, and the people of Preston are looking forward to their ancient once-every-twenty-years festival of merriment and excess, the Preston Guild. But the prospect darkens as the town plunges into a financial crisis caused by the death of pawnbroker and would-be banker...

In this stunning conclusion to the saga, we find Lord Preston and his family are gathered in London in the late 1930s for what turns out to be a homecoming. The family is finally all together again, gathering in a way they haven't been able to do for years. But looming ahead is the summer and fall of 1940 when both the Battle of Britain and the Blitz will occur. Though the family is blissfully unaware of this soon-to-be reality, Lord Preston, privy...