...Samuel's mother has been away for 113 days. Now it's just Samuel and Ruth, the housekeeper, alone in the once-great house. His mother is abroad, purportedly tending to her late husband's faltering business. Samuel yearns for her return, but knows she must have had her reasons for leaving in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye... Suspense fiction. | Abandoned children -- Fiction. | Absentee mothers -- Fiction. | Murder -- Fiction. | Housekeepers -- Fiction. | Mothers and sons -- Fiction. | Missing persons -- Fiction. | Boys -- Fiction. | Australian fiction. | Ghost stories. | Surrey (England) -- Fiction.