In the crowd is Constantia Gifford, the taxidermist’s daughter. Twenty-two and unmarried, she lives with her father in a decaying mansion cluttered with the remains of his once world-famous museum of taxidermy. No one speaks of why the museum was shuttered or how the Giffords fell so low. Connie has no recollection—a childhood accident has erased all memory of her earlier days. The locals shun Blackthorn House and the strange spinster who practices her father’s macabre art.

When a woman is found dead—a stranger Connie noticed near the church—snippets of long-lost memories begin to tease through Connie’s mind, offering glimpses of her vanished years. Who is the victim, and why has her death affected Connie so deeply? Why is she watched by a mysterious figure who has suddenly appeared on the marsh nearby? The answers are tied to a dark secret that lies at the heart of Blackthorn House, hidden among the bell jars of her father’s workshop—a mystery that draws Connie closer to danger . . . closer to madness . . . closer to the startling truth.