I have read the other two famous books by this author, The Familiars, and The Foundling, and I think this is probably my least favourite of the three. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it but it didn't grab me as much as the others. I thought the subject matter was interesting, in that we think of domestic violence and coercive control as being modern issues but they're not and it was refreshing to see that portrayed with modern eyes as it were.

I wasn't really a big fan of any of the characters to be honest. I felt like the slow drip feeding of the background story, meant you couldn't really connect with her. She came across as nice but standoffish and I can see why some of the other servants would have got that idea about her.

I liked the setting. I grew up in Yorkshire and it's nice to read a historical novel set there. Mills do loom large and are a big part of the community so that was interesting to read, even if most of the characters came from money and were not the people working in those mills.

I found the book interesting but it didn't rock my world.