Father planned to throw a big party for her ‘coming out’. Then – he hoped – she would catch the eye of some eligible young man, a lord-to-be, perhaps, and swap this prison for another one.

I might have been another of the crows, who welcomed me silently with their glittering eyes.

It was hard to tell if Father loved her. Often, it seemed that all he cared about was whether or not he could mould her into something pretty and agreeable, a present to be given away to some other man.

Might it be possible to have both things? Love and insects? Perhaps Frederick would fall in love with her, and then, once they were married, would be quite happy for her to become a world-travelling scientist. But even as these thoughts made her feel warm and light inside, doubt rolled in like a dark cloud.

She was only doing it because as much as she couldn’t forgive herself for the day of the bees, she couldn’t forgive Graham, either. He’d made her different.

as if they were heavenly beings, rather than meat and bone like the rest of us.

Altha. Healer.

sees that it is an old carriage clock, swathed in cobwebs. Its hands are stopped; frozen forever at six o’clock.

Altha. A strange name. Soft and yet powerful. Like an incantation.