SPOILERS!!!
As the novel progresses, Guy's paranoia becomes worse and worse. When Brodie realised that Esme was pregnant, they agreed to hide the pregnancy from Guy as long as possible. Yet, Hannah, the maid, and Mrs Talbot are aware that their mistress is pregnant, but they don't know that the baby is not Guy's. When Guy sees a couple of bootees that Hannah has made and she confirms it is for Esme's baby, Guy confronts her. Esme is terrified for Brodie. Guy thinks that Esme is a traitor who has liaised with a German enemy, and she tells him that she was forced. Guy shows compassion towards her, but he is determined to send the baby with a family. When some time later Esme tells him that she wants to keep the baby, he grows suspicious, and she confirms that she loved her father's baby, but she refuses to give him a name. So he still thinks that the father is a German, and he insists on giving the baby away.
Esme tries to escape twice, but on both occasions Guy catches her, so he locks her at home and keeps her prisoner. The second time she tries to escape, she uses a boat and it sinks, and she gets a chill. Hannah persuades Guy to call Brodie, who finds Esme in a terrible condition, and he tells Guy that she needs fresh air and exercise.
It is the day before the Armistice that Esme gives birth to a baby girl, and Brodie takes the baby away and gives the baby to a family. Then when the end of the war is declared, there are fireworks, and Guy becomes even more paranoic, and he locks Esme in the priest's hole. When Brodie confronts him, he finds Esme and she bleeds to death. Then Brodie confronts Guy, and he kills him, putting him in the moat.
Miranda in present time has guessed what happened in the past from the messages Esme left behind the paintings. And in the village her daughter tells her about a very old lady, who turns out to be Esme's daughter. Miranda reveals what she knows, telling her about Esme, and she also reveals that Brodie, who was a kind of uncle to the woman, was her father.
I enjoyed the book, but I have to say that there were parts that felt too long. And even though I understand Esme's plight, some of her behaviour annoyed me.
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