Valla leaves her fiance in New York and goes to England to look after her niece and nephew. After a frantic search, ending in squalor, she takes them to Castle Barebane, a gothic setting in which murderers, madmen, love, and mystery haunt her.

Dark, foreboding, and full of suspense, yet its plot has greater depth, and evokes a greater empathy, than most other gothic stories I've read. I enjoyed this book immensely and have read it several times.

Silly and imaginative fun!