Author: Alexandra Monir
Publisher: Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House
Publication Date: December 9, 2014
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance
Language: English

Format: Hardcover
Retail Price: $17.99 (USD)
ISBN-13: 978-0385743891
ISBN-10: 0385743890
Pages: 304

Format: Paperback
Retail Price: $10.99 (USD)
ISBN-13: 978-0385372510
ISBN-10: 0385372515
Pages: 304

Format: eBook
Retail Price: $10.99 (USD)
ISBN-13: 978-0385372503
ISBN-10: 0062658964
Pages: 304

PROLOGUE

I should know this room. I’ve been inside countless times. But everything looks different now. The vibrant colors have all turned gray, the view out the windows is a foreign blur, and someone must have rearranged the furniture without telling me. Everything feels out of place, and as I move toward a favorite
chair, I nearly sink into empty space.

I sense an arm hoisting me upright, gently steering me toward where the chair actually sits. Closing my eyes, I count to ten and promise myself that when I open them, the world will have returned to normal. But although the colors reappear and the furniture shifts back into position, I know there won’t ever be
such a thing as normal at Rockford Manor again.

I should have remembered what I learned firsthand years ago—that it only takes one night to transform a place; that a single event can crumble a stalwart structure and strip a home of a decade’s worth of happy memories. But I never imagined it would happen twice. I let myself be taken in by Rockford once again, and even now, as I long to escape, I’m no match for the land. It pulls me under, seeping into my skin, until I don’t know where I end and it begins. Maybe that’s what it means to tie your identity to a place: it can betray you, shatter your illusions—and yet you can’t stay away.

“Are you all right, Your Grace?”

I don’t reply, the title failing to register at first. It’s still new to me, and in my state of shock I find myself waiting for someone else, a real duchess, to answer.
But then I remember, and glance up.

The butler, Oscar, stands before me, his face pale.

“I’m afraid the authorities require a statement from you. There’s an officer waiting in the library.”

My eyes drop to the floor.

“All you’re expected to do is tell the truth,” he says gently.

“The truth?” I echo. Where do I start? And who would ever believe me?

“Yes. From the beginning.”

“That would mean going back seven years,” I say under my breath.

Somehow I know that the events of tonight are connected to those from so many summers ago. But it will hurt to go back that far, to reminisce about when I
was different—innocent, untouched by death or scandal.

Oscar’s expression softens.

“Haven’t you heard the old adage about the truth setting you free? Telling your story may lighten your burden.”

I stare out the window at the trees strung with lights, still twinkling long after the party was abruptly halted. These same trees, that called Rockford Manor home centuries before me, are all witnesses to my story—they are wrapped up in it, just as I am.

“Your Grace, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Oscar continues, pacing the drawing room. “A full statement from you is mandatory. However…I can see that you’re in shock, and I might be able to make the officer understand that it would be best for him to return tomorrow.”

I nod gratefully.

“Yes, please.”

“But I suggest that when I come back you tell me the whole story, and together we can decide what to share with the authorities.” Oscar’s eyes warm as he looks at me. “You must know there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect you. My whole life has been spent in service of your family. Tell me the truth—and let me be of service once again.”

I remain silent, watching Oscar’s retreating figure as he slips out of the room and into the corridor. I don’t know what he could possibly do to help me…but in
this moment, he’s all I have.

Memories rise to the surface as I imagine what it would be like to finally tell my story. I feel my mind tumbling back through the days, months, years, until I
am her again: ten-year-old Imogen Rockford, with the world at her feet.

* * *

“Every dynasty has its stain. The reprobate, the scandalous, the fallen—each great house of the English aristocracy can lay claim to at least one of these characters. We know their stories inside and out; we’ve read them in books, witnessed them in our neighbors, and maybe even lived them in our own homes. But what happens when the family stain goes beyond what we understand or know to be possible? How do we categorize someone as “good” or “evil” based on that which we’ve never seen before, and never knew existed?

How do we judge them at all?”

—“The Rockford Dynasty: Perception vs. Misconception”, The ISIS magazine

Excerpted from Suspicion by Alexandra Monir. Copyright © 2014 by Alexandra Monir. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.