THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER AND AWARD-WINNING RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICKMurder, lies and betrayal in Regency EnglandEngland 1819. Thomas Shield, a master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the childs sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Helplessly drawn to Frants beautiful, unhappy mother, Shield becomes entwined in their familys affairs.When a brutal murder takes place in Londons seedy backstreets, all clues lead to the Frant family, and Shield is tangled in a web of lies, money, sex and death that threatens to tear his new life apart.Soon, it emerges that at the heart of these macabre events lies the strange American boy. What secrets is the young Edgar Allan Poe hiding?