Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to physical abuse, domestic violence, psychological manipulation, death by suicide, alcohol use disorder, and substance misuse.

In The Heiress, Camden McTavish returns to a past that he purposely left behind. Cam was adopted by the extraordinarily wealthy Ruby, who made him her heir at the age of 16, but he “knew that that kind of wealth came with strings attached” (26). He remembers the pressures, fears, and bullying he faced at Ashby House, and resolves to live his life far from the entanglements of the McTavish family. However, when Cam returns to Ashby House over 10 years later, he is forced to reckon with the fact that his past is more complicated than he remembered. His shift in perspective is gradual, first rooted in memories of Ashby House and the neighboring town, Tavistock, and then of his relationship with Ruby herself.

Cam suspects that home is going to be different than he remembers before he even sees the house. Although he remembers the road and its difficulties accurately, Ashby House’s gate is different than he recalled:

In my mind, the gate loomed up to the sky, bars thick and black, locking McTavishes inside, locking anyone else out.