Before she became the bestselling chronicler of British royalty in such books as The Boleyn Inheritance and The White Queen, Philippa Gregory penned this gripping 1987 debut novel. In 1770s England, women have no right of inheritance, leaving fatherless Beatrice Lacey with little choice but to accept a loveless marriage and the loss of her family estate, Wideacre. Ruthless as well as beautiful, Beatrice determines to stop at nothing—including incest and murder—to secure the property and the rights that she believes to be her own. Even as she gains the power she has longed for, though, Beatrice will have to contend with the one man who both loves her and knows her capacity for evil.

"[Philippa] Gregory's full-blown first novel is a marvelously assured period piece, an English gothic with narrative verve.... [She] effortlessly breathes color and life into a tale of obsession built around a ruthless, fascinating woman."—Publishers Weekly