For the first time in the history of St Oswald's school, a headmistress is in power, and the gates are opening to girls. Barely 40, Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position, and she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As her new regime takes on the old guard embodied by elderly Latin master Roy Straitley, the remains of a body are discovered on the site of the 500 year old school. But Rebecca is here to make her mark, and in this novel by the author of Chocolat, she'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before.