In Durleston Wood

Richard Hunter has returned to his childhood haunt, Durleston wood, to find it now hides a secret: a mysterious woman, Lillian, who tells him she is being kept there as the property of a villain. But can he believe her?

A middle aged romantic, Richard's life has fallen apart. Divorced and estranged from his family, he's trained late as a teacher, and taken up a post in his home village, only to fall hopelessly in love with his headmistress, the sternly disapproving Davinia Barkwell.

Lillian tells him she wants to escape her bonds by transferring her ownership to him, which makes as well as sounding insanely dangerous. Surely then, this is the last thing he wants. But then again, might it not be the one thing he needs?

Davinia too, has her problems, becoming tangled up with a sleazy politician, which can only end badly, but how many women can a man rescue? And why should he when neither of them turn out to be quite what they seem?