Fans of Erin A. Craig and Dana Schwartz will love this atmospheric haunting romantasy
inspired by Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility about sisters vying to hold on to their manor
set in a Regency England with monsters prowling at its perimeters. Merrick Darling's life as
the daughter of the Manor Lord of Sussex is better than most. Unlike the commoners she is
immune to the fog that encroached on England generations earlier. She will never become a
phantom--one of the monstrous creatures that stalk her province’s borders and as long as the
fires burn to hold them back her safety is assured. She wants for nothing and yet she will
never inherit her family's manor. She must marry smartly or live at her sister Essie's
kindness. Everything is turned on its head though when Merrick's father dies suddenly.
Merrick must return home and what she discovers at Norland Manor is bewildering. Once strong
and capable Essie is withdrawn and frightened—and for good cause. A recent string of attacks
along her province’s borders have turned their once bucolic countryside into a terrifying and
unpredictable landscape. The fog is encroaching and the fires aren’t holding which makes
Merrick and Essie vulnerable in more ways than one. Failure to protect one’s province could
lead to them losing everything. Merrick knows she can't reveal their current state to the rest
of England but when her sister goes missing it's clear she needs help. Only who can she trust
when everyone seems to be scheming for something. And when all she holds to be true feels like
its slipping right out of her grasp.
