Description

London, 1887. When governess Eleanor Hartwell receives an unexpected summons to Yorkshire, she discovers she has inherited a substantial fortune from a distant cousin she barely knew—Cornelius Ashford, a reclusive botanist who died under mysterious circumstances. But there's a catch: she must live in his crumbling manor for six months, or the entire estate passes to a charitable foundation. As Eleanor settles into Ashford Manor, she uncovers a web of secrets hidden within locked rooms, coded letters, and a magnificent greenhouse filled with exotic orchids. Her inheritance is contested by bitter relatives, forcing her into a desperate search for the truth about Cornelius's past. With the help of Dr. James Thornbury, a local physician and amateur naturalist, Eleanor begins to decode decades-old correspondence that reveals a passionate intellectual partnership, a forbidden love, a brilliant scientific discovery stolen by powerful interests.
.But the greatest mystery isn't what Cornelius was hiding—it's why he chose Eleanor, a woman he never spoke to, as his sole heir. As she digs deeper into Victorian England's world of botanical science, patent fraud, and society's rigid constraints on women, Eleanor discovers that some inheritances are measured not in pounds sterling, but in truth. The answer will transform her understanding of her own identity and reveal that she isn't just inheriting Cornelius's estate—she IS the inheritance he spent a lifetime protecting.

A richly atmospheric tale of hidden identities, intellectual theft, and the price of love in an era that demanded conformity, The Orchid Legacy offers a fresh take on Victorian mystery.: