Some secrets are too scandalous to conceal …

Since they left Jamaica for England, Florence’s father has tried to tame her — from hot-combing her unruly hair to training her in the art of bookbinding. But when Florence brings scandal to his door, he throws her onto the streets. Florence has nowhere to turn until, intercepting her father’s commission to restore a private library, she talks her way into the remote and imposing Rose Hall.

There, even the wonders of Lord Belfield’s library can’t distract Florence from the whisper of scandal around the late lady of the house and her black maid. Then one night, someone breaks into the library — yet strangely, they take none of the priceless tomes. Discovering a half-burned diary in the fireplace, Florence holds the key to a mystery that will reshape everything she knows about herself, and shake Rose Hall to its very foundations.

The Binding meets The Vanishing Half in this extraordinary historical debut filled with gothic, book-centered mysteries and people often overlooked by history.