When Frances, recovering from a broken love affair, moved with her mother to lonely Beck Farm in the Yorkshire Dales, she was going into uncharted territory. Planning to open a guesthouse, she encountered only friendliness from the villagers, but there seemed to be some mystery about the previous owner of Beck Farm, Ben Thornton . What had happened to his wife - and why was she still so bitterly resented? Both the ancient and neglected house and its old but magnificent apple tree were badly in need of care and attention. As she brought them both back to life Frances was to discover the history of the house and its occupants - and at the same time to rebuild her own life. Elvi Rhodes returns to her native Yorkshire as the setting for this glorious new novel .