The Stopped Heart

“Myerson twines a delightfully twisted tale, exposing the dark underbelly of love and the gaping, raw wounds of grief. . . . By turns terrifying and heartbreaking, an enthralling spine-chiller.”—Kirkus ReviewsSuffolk, England: During a vicious storm, a redheaded stranger appears outside a farmer’s cottage. The family takes him in—but he has no intention of leaving. One hundred and fifty years later, a devastating tragedy prompts Mary and her husband to start a new life in the countryside. They move into a small cottage, drawn to its beautiful, overgrown garden. The house has been empty for years, but it’s remote, quiet, different—exactly what they need. Then it begins: children whispering, footsteps, a young man with red hair wandering through the orchard.As the stranger insinuates himself deeper into the farmer’s family, and also into the affections of the eldest daughter, Mary’s own sense of unease grows. She feels the past and present intertwining ever more tightly, but is grief twisting her mind? Or is the cottage, haunted by the horrific events of more than a century ago, not quite the rural sanctuary it seems?