Sir Hilton Lisle has done the impossible: he's reformed. Left the racing tracks behind, married into respectability, and secured a political future that could redeem even his most debauched years. His wife Lady Lisle believes in the man she's married. Her young nephew Sydney, sent to be polished under Sir Hilton's wing, adores his guardian. The world sees a baronet with a future. But when word arrives of a horse called La Sylphide, something ancient wakes in Sir Hilton. The blood that boils at the crack of the starting gate, the rush of risking everything on a single throw these were supposed to be dead. Lady Tilborough's arrival with her own agenda threatens to expose how thin the varnish has become. George Manville Fenn writes with sharp eye for the particular agony of a man destroying himself while believing he's in control. This is domestic drama with real teeth: the tension between who we pretend to be and who our appetites demand we become, played out in a world where a single bet can unravel everything.
