Half The World In Winter

London, 1880. Lucas Jarmyn struggles to make sense of the death of his beloved youngest daughter; his wife, Aurora, seeks solace in rigid social routines; and 18-year-old Dinah looks for fulfillment in unusual places. Only the housekeeper, Mrs. Logan, seems able to carry on. A train accident on the railway Lucas owns claims the life of nine-year-old Alice Brinklow and, amid the public outcry, Alice's father, Thomas, journeys to London demanding justice. As he arrives in the Capital on a frozen January morning, his fate, and that of the entire Jarmyn family, will hinge on such strange things as an ill-fated visit to a spiritualist, an errant chicken bone, and a single vote cast at a board room meeting. Written with charm, humor, and rich period detail, Maggie Joel has created an intriguing novel of a Victorian family adrift in their rapidly changing world.