Elodie Winslow discovers an uncatalogued Victorian satchel at work containing a photograph of a mysterious woman in white and a monogrammed sketchbook.

Elodie identifies the sketchbook's initials EJR as belonging to Edward Radcliffe, a Victorian painter whose career ended in tragedy at Birchwood Manor.

Elodie visits her great-uncle Tip and learns the house sketched in the book is where he was evacuated during the Second World War.

Pippa gives Elodie a biography identifying the woman in the photograph as Lily Millington, Edward Radcliffe's model and muse who vanished in 1862.

Elodie removes the photograph from its frame and discovers a letter hidden behind it, addressed to J and signed BB.

Birdie recalls being left in Mrs. Mack's care as a child after her father abandoned her, beginning a life of petty crime.

Birdie meets Edward Radcliffe outside a theater, gives him the alias Lily Millington, and begins modeling for his paintings.

Edward's painting La Belle is exhibited at the Royal Academy, and Birdie discovers for the first time that he is engaged to Frances Brown.

Ada Lovegrove falls from a boat into the Thames at Birchwood and glimpses a glowing blue light at the bottom of the river.

Jack Rolands, an Australian detective hired by a client, arrives at Birchwood Manor searching for a missing diamond called the Radcliffe Blue.

Elodie visits Birchwood and deduces that the letter signed BB was written by Lily Millington to her childhood friend James Stratton.

Frances Brown arrives unexpectedly at Birchwood during the summer retreat, insisting Edward cannot break off their engagement.

Lucy knocks Martin unconscious, hides Birdie in the staircase compartment that can only be opened from the outside, then flees to the hallway.

Lucy inherits Birchwood, throws the Radcliffe Blue into the river, and buries Birdie's remains in the garden beneath a Japanese maple tree.

A fierce storm uproots the Japanese maple in Birchwood's front garden, exposing what lies buried in the earth beneath it.

When archivist Elodie Winslow discovers a Victorian satchel containing a photograph of a mysterious woman and a monogrammed sketchbook, she begins investigating Edward Radcliffe, a painter whose career ended when his fiancée was killed at Birchwood Manor in 1862. Her research reveals that the woman in the photograph was known as Lily Millington, Radcliffe's model and muse, who was blamed for stealing a rare diamond and disappearing. Meanwhile, the ghost of Birdie tells her own story: abandoned as a child, she took the name Lily Millington, fell in love with Edward, and came to Birchwood for the summer. When Frances Brown arrived unexpectedly and a criminal named Martin broke in, Lucy Radcliffe attempted to save Birdie by hiding her in a priest hole that could only be opened from the outside, accidentally sealing her fate. Decades later, Lucy buried Birdie's remains beneath a Japanese maple at Birchwood, and the truth stayed buried until a storm uprooted the tree and finally brought it to light.

The quest to uncover Birdie's fate and the secret at the heart of Birchwood Manor.

Birdie's clockmaker father teaches her about light and time, taking her to the Royal Observatory before gambling and drinking destroy his business.

A young woman named Lily Millington is beaten to death, and she passes her name to Birdie as the most valuable thing she owns.

Birdie escapes pursuing police by climbing through a window and finds herself in the bedroom of a pale, sickly boy who offers her food.

Elodie watches video recordings of her mother Lauren Adler performing as a cellist and begins to understand her father's enduring grief.

Pippa gives Elodie a photograph showing Lauren Adler and a violinist picnicking in a garden, taken shortly before Lauren died in a car crash.

Ada Lovegrove's parents bring her from Bombay to England and install her at Birchwood without telling her she is being enrolled as a pupil.

Ada hides inside a secret compartment in Birchwood's hallway wall to escape two older girls who torment her for being from India.

Leonard Gilbert arrives at Birchwood Manor to take up an art residency, researching Edward Radcliffe while trying to escape his wartime memories.

Leonard interviews Lucy Radcliffe, who shares the legend of the Eldritch Children and explains that Edward discovered Birchwood while fleeing a ghost.

Juliet Wright arrives at Birchwood with her three children after a Blitz bomb destroys their London home, determined to shield them from the war.

Juliet meets the archaeologist Ada Lovegrove at the local pub and confides her concerns about her young son Tip's imaginary friend Birdie.

Elodie reads Juliet's wartime newspaper columns and finds a description of Tip's flame-haired imaginary friend that matches the woman in the photograph.

Ada Lovegrove gives Tip a blue stone she found in the river, saying it protected her when she sank to the bottom.

Juliet drives to Birchwood to meet Leonard Gilbert in person for the first time, bringing a silver thruppence to return to him.

Birdie reflects that she no longer wishes to be freed, having become the house itself, its warmth and its light.

This pool traces the secondary but vital stories that give Birchwood Manor its layered history across time. Birdie's early life unfolds through her clockmaker father's lessons, the death of the original Lily Millington, and her formative friendship with a sickly boy called Pale Joe. In the present day, Elodie processes her mother Lauren Adler's legacy through recordings and a mysterious photograph showing Lauren with a violinist shortly before her death. At the turn of the century, Ada Lovegrove endures bullying at Miss Radcliffe's School for Girls before her near-drowning in the Thames changes the course of her life. In the 1940s, Juliet Wright takes refuge at Birchwood during the Blitz, meeting Ada and quietly absorbing the news of her husband's death in the war. The pool closes with the threads that wrap the novel together: Ada giving Tip the blue stone that will become Elodie's talisman, Juliet returning a lost thruppence to Leonard, and Birdie's serene acceptance of her eternal place as the spirit of the house.

The lives of Birchwood's visitors across the decades, from Victorian pickpockets to wartime evacuees.

Elodie sees a sketch of a large house in the Victorian sketchbook and recognizes it from a bedtime story her mother used to tell her.

Tip tells Elodie that Lauren asked him for the address of Birchwood Manor the week before she died in a car crash.

Elodie learns from Leonard Gilbert's biography that Birchwood Manor is the house in the sketchbook and the setting of her mother's bedtime story.

Pale Joe tells Birdie she is in love with Edward Radcliffe after she visits him the night La Belle is first exhibited publicly.

Lucy Radcliffe tells Leonard that the truth of what happened at Birchwood in 1862 depends entirely on who is doing the telling.

Leonard recalls sleeping with his brother Tom's fiancée Kitty while home on leave, and learning that Tom was killed in the trenches three days later.

As Leonard returns to Birchwood from a swim, he sees an unknown woman sleeping peacefully beneath the Japanese maple tree and waves to her.

Edward gives Birdie two steamship tickets to America in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe, intending to break his engagement to Frances.

Lucy secretly discovers blueprints in Birchwood's library revealing two hidden priest holes, including one compartment that can only be opened from the outside.

Lucy hides in Edward's studio and finds the tickets to America and the Radcliffe Blue diamond, then watches Martin drag Birdie toward the door.

Martin tells Birdie that her father was trampled by a horse before he ever reached America and that Mrs. Mack has known all along.

Birdie, trapped in the compartment beneath the stairs, hears a gunshot and realizes she cannot open the door from the inside.

Lucy finds the Radcliffe Blue hidden in the pocket of her old gown and understands that Birdie could not have stolen the diamond.

Elodie and Jack spend the night in Birchwood talking about their losses, and Elodie admits she does not believe Alastair truly loves her.

Tip learns of Lauren Adler's death and resolves to make Elodie a charm box, planning to include the blue stone Ada Lovegrove gave him.

This pool follows the chain of revelations that slowly unlock the mystery at the heart of The Clockmaker's Daughter, beginning with Elodie's recognition of her mother's bedtime story in a Victorian sketchbook. Crucial discoveries accumulate: Lauren had asked for Birchwood's address days before her death, Leonard's biography connects the house to Radcliffe's tragedy, and Pale Joe confirms Birdie's love for Edward. Leonard Gilbert's guilt over his brother Tom's death illustrates how war's trauma echoes for decades, while Lucy Radcliffe's warning that truth depends on perspective foreshadows the novel's most devastating revelation. The summer of 1862 reaches its crisis when Edward gives Birdie tickets to America, Martin intrudes and reveals that Birdie's father is dead, and Lucy's panicked rescue attempt locks Birdie in an airless compartment she cannot escape. The pool closes with the final pieces falling into place: Lucy finds proof of Birdie's innocence too late to undo the harm, while the next generation begins assembling Elodie's charm box from the wreckage of these interconnected losses.

The hidden truths, devastating discoveries, and pivotal decisions that determine every character's fate.