When, in 1922, Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home in Wiltshire, she’s hoping for a fresh start where nobody knows her troubled history.
But Harfold Manor is shadowed by grief and the memories of long-faded glory, its rooms haunted by the only surviving member of the family, Lady Arabella Lascy.
Vee is fascinated by her enigmatic new employer, a woman obsessed with the curse she believes has killed her family one by one. A curse that is coming for her next.
As Vee immerses herself in the world of Harfold, she finds herself increasingly entranced by Arabella and the secrets that poison her.
But Vee has her own things to hide: secrets that caused her to flee Cardiff, secrets that estranged her from her own family, secrets that might finally catch up with her.
A Slow and Secret Poison by Carmella Lowkis is published on 22 January, 2026.
See what other historical fiction is coming out in 2026 in our summary of more than 110 books published this year.
