Peg Kingman Books

A mysterious package from her presumed-dead twin brother leads Catherine MacDonald on a journey to India in search of answers. The package contains a Kashmiri shawl, unusual tea, and handwritten bagpipe music, including a retitled tune, "Not Yet Drown'd." Accompanied by her stepdaughter and two maids—one a secretive Hindu and the other a runaway American slave—Catherine uncovers hidden truths about her brother while navigating a world intertwined with tea, opium, and music. A reading group guide is also included.

Set against the backdrop of 1840s Britain and France, this novel explores profound questions of identity and humanity. A wet nurse, concealing her true name, seeks to uncover her father's identity, while a quarryman secretly smuggles a significant fossil to Paris. The narrative intertwines with a controversial best-seller whose author remains anonymous, alongside an overlooked book that introduces ideas pivotal to Darwin's "Origin of Species." These interconnected stories converge, revealing unexpected truths and insights in a captivating climax.

Anibaddh Lyngdoh's ambition to revitalize the American silk industry masks a deeper, personal motive that her friend Grace MacDonald Pollocke uncovers. As a Philadelphia portrait painter, Grace embarks on a dangerous investigation revealing hidden sins and crimes intertwined with Anibaddh's plans. The narrative explores the moral dilemmas surrounding justice, questioning the lengths to which individuals will go—potentially involving deceit, forgery, fraud, perjury, and even murder—in pursuit of a greater cause.