Tartelin Brown is all alone in the world. So when she sees an advert for a job on a remote island, she knows she has nothing to lose.

Her employer, Marianne Stourbridge, is a woman as strange and mysterious as the place she inhabits.

Tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research, Tartelin quickly uncovers evidence of something even more intriguing – for Marianne has a remarkable past.

Determined to piece together the story, Tartelin must first confront her own. But what she discovers on the island is more terrible and heart-breaking than she could ever have imagined.

Atmospheric and deeply emotional, The Unravelling is the captivating novel from the author of The Illustrated Child.