The Taking of Irene Hart

By Madeleine Reiss

1859. Somerset, England.

When widow Hester Travis decides to sign over all her family’s worldly goods – and their freedom – to a secretive religious community, her daughters, headstrong Ruby and fragile Irene, have little say in the matter.

Led by the charismatic Reverend Prince, the women enter a world with its own set of rules and where Irene, cursed with seizures and ill health, is believed to have second sight. But as Hester and Irene are drawn into the community’s twisted philosophy, Ruby detects a darker truth stalking its shadowy corners.

When a shocking discovery throws the community open to scrutiny, the stakes are raised and Ruby realises that it is not only their souls that must be saved …

Format: ebook
Release Date: 13 Feb 2025
Pages: None
ISBN: 978-0-00-861422-5

Madeleine Reiss was born in Athens. She worked for some years in an agency for street performers and comedians and then as a journalist and publicist. She has two sons and lives in Cambridge with her husband and her younger son. Someone To Watch Over Me is her first novel.

'Gorgeous and Emotional' Fern Britton -

'I found it deeply moving and couldn't stop reading' Susan Lewis -

”'Will send a chill down your spine.” - The Sunday Mirror