An eerie, exquisitely-written gothic historical thriller about the strange disappearance of a young woman from a university in the town of Killingly, based on a true story. Perfect for fans of Triflers Need Not Apply, The Binding, and Plain Bad Heroines.

That morning Agnes was drawing the cracked pelvis of a beaver. She had found it in the woods near the Upper Lake, where the men had been searching for Bertha . . .

The other students at Holyoke College think that Bertha Mellish is a most peculiar young woman. She is different, with her bare face, strange clothes and intense friendship with Agnes Sullivan, another outcast. When Bertha disappears in the autumn of 1897, she leaves Agnes and Bertha's older sister, Florence, with a mystery to solve.

Enigmatic detective Higham is brought in to investigate the case, under the watchful eye of Dr Hammond, and both men soon become obsessed with the missing girl. When they start to unearth the terrible secrets that Bertha had been hiding, the quiet university's peace is shattered.

But Bertha's is not a story that a man could ever fully understand.

It is the story of what it means to be a young woman. To sleep with a dagger under your pillow. To dream of house fires.

And it will take a woman to solve it.