From three beloved authors comes a collection of stories that examines questions of healing, legacy, and love against the rich backdrop of a historical castle—and its adjoining poison garden.

Leedswick Castle has housed the Alnwick family for generations. But the world around it is changing, and secrets that have long been buried will soon come to light.

1899: Beatrice, an American, seeks the legitimacy of a British title to add prestige to her fortune. She hopes for love in her marriage of convenience to Charles at Leedswick Castle, but she finds herself entangled in a generations-long family intrigue.

1917: Tobias, eventual heir of Beatrice and Charles, finds himself convalescing from the battlefields of WWI with a scarred face back at Leedswick. Elena is the young artist tasked with painting a realistic mask for the isolated hero, and they both learn to find beauty and love in unexpected places—but disaster lurks just outside the castle walls.

1945: Alec finds himself the heir to Leedswick, but he carries the burden of shell-shock from his time in WWII. He seeks to make the castle into a refuge for those who are similarly haunted, calling upon a renowned psychologist and the doctor's niece, Elisa, to help him.

Through the generations, the castle is both shelter and prison, haunting and home. It is only when its inhabitants look inward that they can free both the castle and themselves from the shackles of the past.

Aimie Runyan's profile page

For as long as I can remember I’ve always had a book in my hand. When other girls went to the library to look at the Babysitter’s Club books, my mom found me sitting in the history aisle with a stack of Civil War books, and autobiographies of legends long gone. I loved being transported to other places and times, where men are chivalrous knights to the rescue and women wear big frilly dresses. I’ve always believed I was born in the wrong time period … but I digress.

With my natural curiosity of all things old-fashioned and love of happily ever afters, it was only natural I decided to pen a few of my own.

Born in Florida, I spent the many happy days of childhood running around our large backyard and splashing on the sugar white beaches known only to the Sunshine State. Just before high school, my dad got a job transfer to Texas and a whole new life began. I graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Psychology the summer of 2005.

Not knowing what else to do with my life, I joined the Air Force. Stationed in Germany I was able to travel to places I’d only dreamed of: France, Austria, Netherlands, England, and my favorite Scotland. I also met my awesome husband while over there. I consider him my consolation prize for the years being forced to wear camouflage and combat boots.

After serving our four years, we now live in Virginia where we’ve been blessed that I can stay home and write all day. Yay! When I’m not writing you can find me baking something with chocolate, making my little girl laugh, or giving belly rubs to our beagle Daisy.

J'nell Ciesielski's profile page

Rachel McMillan is the author of The Herringford and Watts mysteries, The Van Buren and DeLuca mysteries, and The Three Quarter Time series of contemporary Viennese romances. She is also the author of Dream, Plan, Go: A Travel Guide to Inspire Independent Adventure. Rachel lives in Toronto, Canada.

Rachel McMillan's profile page