Susan Hill meets Wilkie Collins in Alison Littlewood's latest chiller: mad-doctor Nathaniel is obsessed with the beautiful Mrs Harleston - but is she truly delusional? Or is she hiding secrets that should never be uncovered . . . ?

'A chilling atmosphere of skulls, séances, secrets and hysteria' The Times

Set a guard upon your soul . . .

When Nathaniel Kerner takes up his new position as a mad-doctor at Crakethorne Manor, the proprietor, more interested in phrenology and his growing collection of skulls than his patients' minds, hands over the care of his most interesting case.

Mrs Victoria Harleston's husband accuses her of hysteria and says he will pay any price to see her well. But she accuses him of something far more terrible . . .

Nathaniel becomes increasingly obsessed with Victoria and her condition: is she truly delusional or is she hiding secrets that should never be uncovered?

'A Gothic masterpiece' The Lady