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The Cambridge Town Obelisk
Paperback
Publisher: Lavinia Ashford
Published: Jan 28 2026
Pages: 232
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.53 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
In the shadow of a green-lit tower on Bagshot Heath, truth is buried-and someone must dig it up.
Eleanor Thorne copies land records for pennies in 1770 Surrey, content to live unnoticed-until she deciphers a cipher hidden in an old ledger and witnesses a young woman vanish near the mysterious Cambridge Town Obelisk, a private tower built by the gentry for secret meetings.
When the girl's body is found with no name and no inquest, Nora knows: this is murder disguised as misfortune. Teaming up with Julian Hartwell, a surveyor with his own reasons to distrust the powerful, she uncovers a conspiracy of enclosure, silence, and betrayal that reaches into Parliament itself.
From midnight rides through pine forests to coded messages in dead sparrows, from public reckonings in London courtrooms to quiet acts of resistance in village schoolhouses, Nora and Julian must decide how far they'll go to protect the commons-and each other.
But when love blooms in the ashes of betrayal, and a child is born into a world still trembling with threat, they face their hardest choice: Do they publish the truth and risk everything-or bury it to save the future?
The Cambridge Town Obelisk is a gripping standalone historical novel inspired by real Surrey landscapes and the brutal Enclosure Acts. Perfect for fans of Hamnet, The Essex Serpent, and Remarkably Bright Creatures, it's a testament to the quiet courage of ordinary people who choose to build rather than burn-and the land that never forgets.
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