The Pig

One red, dripping word appears across the pale stone façade of Castle Oving:

PIG.

England, 1839. Lady Viola Bramford's only concern should be her coming presentation in London, where she is expected to shine and secure the glittering future promised to girls of her rank.

Perhaps even marry her beautiful, impossible cousin Balthazar.

Then a new governess arrives.

Madame Dubois is hired to instruct Viola's young brothers, but soon she seems to be taking possession of the entire house. The servants obey her. The twins adore her. Viola's widowed father trusts her. Only Viola sees the cruelty beneath Madame's perfect manners.

Soon the house begins to turn against Viola. Whispers follow her through the corridors. Desire curdles into shame. A mysterious lady in purple seems to know more than she should. And somewhere in the depths of the castle, Viola begins to hear the grunting of a pig.

Madame must be trying to destroy her.

Or is she?

As Viola claws at the veils concealing the truth, she must face a terror worse than madness: that the corruption may not be in the castle, or in Madame.

It may be in her.

A mature Victorian gothic psychological thriller about aristocratic decay, repressed desire, family secrets, and beautiful things gone rotten.