Ireland, 1864: newly-orphaned heiress Maud Ruthyn (Agnes O’Casey) becomes the ward of her distant Uncle Silas (David Wilmot) when, grief-stricken and proud, she rejects support from her official trustees, preferring the greater independence she imagines the familial arrangement will afford. Welcoming Silas, his children and their governess to her isolated manor, she soon learns that Silas’s intentions are far from benign as he schemes to snatch her fortune through enforced marriage to his son Edward (Chris Walley), an evil buffoon. But the escalating danger and violent assaults ignite a fire in the young heiress, determined to fight for her birthright till the bitter end.

Served by a wholly engaging cast, Lisa Mulcahy directs a taut, psychological thriller, against the rigidly mannered confines of 19th century society.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn