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1939, 2000s: What secrets does Foxfield Hall have?
1939, 2000s: What secrets does Foxfield Hall have?
September, 1939. The moon shines silver on the looming yew trees. Thinking of her fiancé, fighting for his life and country in the war, breaks Eleanor’s heart, but also gives her courage. She takes a deep breath, picks up her camera, and follows the dancing lights into the maze.
Present day. With her little brother Missing in Action, gardener Megan Taylor runs from her grief to take a job at Foxfield Hall – a centuries-old place full of myths and folklore – restoring the wild maze in the overgrown gardens. Throwing herself into shaping the tangled ivy, Megan soon becomes drawn into the mystery of Lady Eleanor Fairfax, the Hall’s most famous resident… the villagers say she disappeared without trace at the Harvest Festival in 1939, leaving behind a grieving father and a heartbroken fiancé.
Leafing through delicate old newspaper cuttings and gazing at an ornately framed portrait of the missing woman, Megan is full of questions. Although no body was ever found, could Eleanor have been murdered? Did she run away, unwilling to marry the man who loved her? Or, with her father working at the War Office, did Eleanor stumble upon a secret she shouldn’t have?
Then, one night under a full moon, a mesmerising light inexplicably draws her to the entrance of the maze. Megan is filled with a strange certainty that, if she follows it into the shadows, it will lead to the truth about Eleanor… but could Megan herself be the next occupant of Foxfield Hall to be lost forever?
Foxfield Hall is fictional but it sounds lovely so there are a few examples of halls and houses in England that you could visit to imagine you are in the hall in the novel.
“The house was beautiful, a sprawling manor of place, like something out of a fairy tale. It wasn’t one style, but looked more like every historical period was represented in some way, a few that didn’t even belong at all. Victoria with a touch of gothic here, and Dutch Baroque there. some Tudor elements buried deep underneath.”
Inside Foxfield Hall
“The interior was just as eclectic as the building itself, although the style was more muted, tailored to appeal to a wide audience of visitors…”
“It was the type of place that didn’t scream money because it didn’t need to. It had that old-world , eternal quality to it.”
Destination/location: England Author/guide: Jessica Thorne Departure Time: 1939
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