The Maids Bell

Set in early 20th-century New York, the story is told through the eyes of Alice Hartley, a young woman hired as a lady’s maid to Mrs. Brympton, a delicate and emotionally remote widow who lives in a grand but melancholic country estate. The house is large, quiet, and stifling—with long hallways, closed doors, and an air of secrets left undisturbed.

Alice is told not to use the maid’s bell—the summoning bell in Mrs. Brympton’s bedroom—because it hasn't been in service since the last maid, Emma Saxon, died under mysterious circumstances.

But one night, the bell rings.