The West family at Moortop Farm should have led settled and happy lives. They were affluent, had a superb old farmhouse, and were blessed with three daughters, Hyacinth, Hilda – and Honoria. But even from childhood Honoria cast a pall of fear and suspicion over the family. Violent and unpleasant things happened and although they were dismissed as accidents, both Honoria’s parents and her older sister, Hyacinth, became increasingly alarmed.

          As the years passed, Honoria’s worst excesses were concealed from the world, but even so, in her new life in Liverpool, her evil affected those about her – Yvonne, struggling to escape from an unhappy marriage, Karam, fighting a hopeless obsession, Philip Pointer, trying to hide his own secrets. But it was April, frail and battling against a serious illness, who was to be the one finally to destroy Miss Honoria West.