Edward Ransome
Will Ransome, the village vicar, was once the image of righteousness—deeply spiritual, devoted to his parish, and, to all appearances, a loyal husband to his ailing wife. But when Mrs. Cora Seaborne, a recently widowed and fiercely intelligent woman from London, arrived in the coastal village seeking answers to local folklore and natural mysteries, something within Will began to shift. Cora awakened a hunger for the unknown, for passion, for escape. Their connection spiraled into something dangerous, with Will giving in to temptation behind closed doors while returning home to place cold cloths on his wife's forehead and whisper prayers as if shallow acts could balance his sins. Though weakened by tuberculosis, his wife was not blind to the distance in his eyes and the quiet guilt in his gestures. When the truth surfaced, she summoned strength to write to Edward Ransome—Will's estranged identical twin brother. He offered refuge, and she fled with her children before dawn, leaving behind the house where her heart had broken to seek healing in the arms of the one person she never expected to depend on.