Life at The Keep changes forever when Fliss, Mole and Susannah arrive in the summer of 1957. Their parents and elder brother have been killed in Kenya so the children are sent to their grandmother, Freddy, in Devon. Freddy is no stranger to grief, but she would be lost without her devoted helpers, Ellen and Fox, who enable her to cope with this latest tragedy. And, above all, she looks to her brother-in-law, Theo, to guide her while the children heal their wounds and embark on the treacherous journey to adulthood