Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

Julia has a recurring dream in which she is walking through the driving rain while holding an infant to her chest. She remembers details, that the warmth of the child under her cloak is the only warm place on her body. The child is her own daughter, and she's headed to the river Fenny to drown the baby. The river is swollen out of its banks, and she doesn't know how she's to reach the river.

The book begins with Julia admitting that she's now old and reminiscing about her childhood. She was born in 1773 to Celia Havering of Havering Hall and Harry Lacey, the squire of Wideacre. She tells of her Aunt Beatrice, her father's sister. Beatrice was killed by the people of Wideacre, and the Wideacre mansion burned. Julia repeatedly dreams of the night Beatrice was killed and her...