A secret getaway, a crumbling manor house and a friend group riven by betrayal – what could possibly go wrong?
When Jan Rubin is first invited to Holt House by her louche aristocratic friend Theo, she knows it’s a bad idea. Lockdown orders across Britain make their gathering highly illegal, but Theo’s powers of persuasion and the prospect of escaping her lonely life in London get the better of Jan.
But not everything at Holt House is as it first appears and to complicate matters further, the friends are riven by much the same deep social and political divides that have polarised their nation. Doors open and shut without being touched, objects move of their own will and Jan is becoming increasingly afraid that they are not alone.
With every day she spends in Theo’s ancestral home, Jan grows more uncertain of her place in the group or who she can really trust. Divided by their false assumptions, the friends are in even more danger from what lies within the walls of Holt House than the crisis unfolding outside – but will they realise it in time?
The Decadence will be published by Sceptre Books in autumn 2025