Victorian Gothic

It was a ghastly horror of a house party. Miss Penelope Childe and all the others were awaiting the end of the wicked earl's rotten life. The disinherited son, the new heir, the illegitimate son - all of them are there. Murder is done. The centuries-old curse has struck again. Penelope alone heard the supernatural scream and sees the ghosts that no one else can. Penelope is a reluctant bride-to-be, contracted to wed a man she's never met before. She intensely dislikes her betrothed, the rakish Lord Taredell.

Mary Wingfield is a perfectly ordinary young woman. She has been raised in a strict household, but her father and mother are mostly kind towards her. Her fanciful dreams of travelling the world are entertained; she never has to go without, and she is deeply loved. Despite her wealthy, educated background, she is even being permitted to marry her childhood sweetheart, Lewis Stuart, a working class boy.