Una is devastated after the suicide of her father. So when she sees an advert seeking a teacher for two girls in Skalar on the storm-battered north coast of the island, she sees it as a chance to escape.
But once she arrives, Una quickly realises nothing in city life has prepared her for this. The villagers are unfriendly. The weather is bleak. And, from the creaky attic bedroom in the old house she's living, she's convinced she hears the ghostly sound of singing.
Una worries that she's losing her mind. And then, just before Christmas, there's a murder . . .