There are some facts about the world that only your mother can teach you.
So into the attic she had gone, climbing the stairs towards her promised freedom, and she would stay there until she had learned the lessons that would prepare her for the real world, the lessons that only a mother could teach.
Marguerite Perigord had been confined for the sake of her wellbeing.
That's what her mother had said.
Marguerite Perigord is locked in the attic of her family home, a towering Chelsea house overlooking the stinking Thames. For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters. Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beeton's advice and longing for her life outside.
Cecile Perigord has confined her daughter Marguerite for her own good. Cecile is concerned that Marguerite's engagement
