In the schoolroom in Lowndes Square, a child, in her ugly, unsuitable frock of plum-coloured satin, cut down when discarded from one of her mother's, bent over the cutting out of a doll and its cardboard wardrobe, and shivered as she worked.

Hilarious, shocking, and heartbreaking in turn, A Harp in Lowndes Square is like no other Rachel Ferguson novel. Perhaps her most personal work - and the closest she ever came to a ghost story - it tells of Vere and James, twins gifted with 'the sight, ' which allows them to see and even experience scenes from the past...

This book was written for those who don't despise children's parties, Edwardian actresses, dancing classes and the scent of lilac over sun-warmed fences.

Barbara Morant spent a crucial part of her childhood in the unremarkable suburban house which lends this novel its name. For her siblings, it's merely a place to live; for her mother, it's a symbol of the provincial drudgery of suburban living. But for Barbara, the house and the routines of those years are invested with a halo of happiness, and she yearns for them long after the family's return to London.

Her...