So begins, a novel of hand wringing corset tightening suspense and deliciously dark humor, narrated by iseult wince, a spinster at the tender age of twenty eight. Shes been at acrimonious odds with her father from the very beginning of her lofe, and one of the few comforts of her exiled, estranged existence is that her dead mother loves on, a constant presence thay dwells in the scar of iseults neck. As competing tensions build and spark and this haunting, singular story careens toward a terrifying climax. Should she listen to her mother, her closest companion? Or should she try to exorcise the melevolant spirit thay haunts her and set the course of her own life, no matter the cost?