*Each Sunday for ten years, the young and prominent Maidens of Mapleton club have met in the town schoolhouse and told each other all. A town with a violent past, now-booming Mapleton dotes on its favorite daughters: Christine, a performer at the town's beautiful music hall, Mina, the daughter of the newspaper owner, Esme, a ward of the church and Lucy and Elizabeth, daughters of the widower Mayor-one ladylike, the other a hellion. Slowly, the truth begins to cloud. The pieces of the past don't add up, and familiar tales and faces fail to comfort. In this five novella series from Marie Piper, comprised of Old West adaptations of gothic/horror tales, the Maidens find their friendships tested, fall in (and out) of love, and are forced to unravel the mystery of that one terrible day. What really happened on the day of the Mapleton Massacre?*
In this fourth installment, Esme has saved her money and is ready to flee Mapleton for a chance to find a better life somewhere far from the memories of the massacre that left her orphaned at age six. When Meg's return to town leads to Esme's stage debut, and with the deed to Carfax Mines now in her possession, Esme finds herself torn between two men, getting more attention than she ever wanted, and in more danger than she ever expected. In this adaptation of Victor Hugo's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, Mapleton's secrets will be unearthed and the Maiden who never felt like she fit in will discover what home -- and love -- truly means.
