Dark secrets haunt the manor house at Selden in Buckinghamshire, where Emilie Selden, motherless, fiercely intelligent and beautiful, has been raised in near isolation by her father. John Selden, a student of Isaac Newton, aims to turn Emilie into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. And now he is embarking on his most daring experiment yet - to breathe life into dead matter. However the experiment is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers. Emilie, now eighteen, is completely unprepared for the new emotions aroused in her and her brilliant mind and passion for the natural world do nothing to prepare her for what comes next. With no one to guide her, she makes her choice - with consequences that are far-reaching and tumultuous.