Kept

<p>When Henry Ireland dies unexpectedly from what appears to be a riding accident in August 1863 the failed landowner leaves behind little save his high-strung young widow Isabel--who somehow ends up in the home of Ireland's friend James Dixey. A celebrated naturalist Dixey collects strange trophies in his secluded decaying manse and has questionable associations with rather unsavory characters--including a pair of thuggish poachers named Dewar and Dunbar. Dixey's precocious inquisitive young servant Esther cannot turn a blind eye to the suspicious activities surrounding her. While in the crime-ridden streets of London a determined captain of Scotland Yard follows the threads that may well link a daring train robbery to the disappearance of a disturbed heiress as well as to the possible murder of Henry Ireland.</p><p>D. J. Taylor's <em>Kept</em> is a gorgeously intricate dazzling reinvention of Victorian life and passions that is also a riveting investigation into some of the darkest most secret chambers of the human heart.</p>