Jess Armstrong

1922. Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a bookshop alongside octogenarian Mr Owen. When she finds herself at Penryth Hall, deep in the Cornish countryside, painful memories emerge of her lost friendship with Tamsyn, now married to the rather sinister Sir Edward Chenowyth. Although desperate to leave, Ruby's plans are thwarted when Penryth's bells ring for the...

October, 1922. Ruby Vaughn's octogenarian employer and housemate Mr Owen said the trip to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders was to appraise some illuminated manuscripts for their bookshop. However, the truth soon unravels along with the decades-old secrets he has been carefully hiding.For Mr Owen, whose son Ben was killed in the Great War, is desperate to speak to...

December, 1923. Ruby Vaughn is looking forward to a quiet, relaxing trip to Oxford in the week before Christmas with her octogenarian housemate and colleague, Mr Owen. Far away from the arcane, unusual—and occasionally illegal—books that seem to always get her into trouble. The most she expects to do is attend a handful of his antiquarian society meetings. But when...