The Turnglass

THE TURNGLASS is a dual narrative that blends fact and fiction, revolving around two homes called Turnglass House – one in 1880s England and the other in 1930s California. It was published by Simon & Schuster on 31^st August, and is a Sunday Times Bestseller.

1880s England. On the bleak island of Ray, off the Essex coast, an idealistic young doctor, Simeon Lee, is called from London to treat his cousin, Parson Oliver Hawes, who is dying. Parson Hawes, who lives in the only house on the island – Turnglass House – believes he is being poisoned. And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver’s brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver’s library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver’s tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other.

1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn’t believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum. But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a tête-bêche novel – which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee . . . 

Gareth is the author of two WWII thrillers – LIBERATION SQUARE and THE WINTER AGENT. This novel marks a new creative direction for Gareth – playful, original and hugely entertaining. Gareth read English literature at the University of St Andrews and trained at East 15 Acting School. He writes about social affairs, travel and the arts for a wide variety of British newspapers. In 2013 he directed a documentary about therapeutic art at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London (‘Bedlam’). He is represented by Jon Wood at RCW Literary Agency.