A Spell of Winter / Helen Dunmore

Catherine and her brother, Rob, don’t know why they have been abandoned by their parents. Incarcerated in the enormous country house of their grandfather – ‘the man from nowhere’ – they create a refuge against their family’s dark secrets – and the outside world as it moves towards the First World War. As time passes their sibling love deepens and crosses into forbidden territory – but they are not as alone in the house as they believe …