Her evangelist parents set about running private schools, which steadily gain in standing and respectability. All is peaceable enough - until the chance discovery of an underground grotto exposes them to temptation, manipulation and the wilfully unscrupulous dealings of their neighbours. The discovery of the underground realm of shells heralds the uncovering of some unpleasant family truths - and the dark, stark realities of the adult world. Set against the upheavals of 1830s England - the end of the war with France and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution - The Realm of Shells is a bewitching portrait of a family and a country on the brink of irrevocable change.