Arriving in Arcadia, she is met by her guide Miss Ariel Davenport, a changeling, who takes her to the mission, a castle-like manor that they call Gethsemane.

As days go by and Cathy awaits Laon's return, she begins to learn about Rev Jacob Roche, who first established this mission, and in increasingly frustrated by Miss Davenport's unwillingness to tell her anything substantive.

[2] Publishers Weekly considered it "intriguing but unfocused," with "possibilities [that] are fascinating" and "period touches [that] satisfy" but an "unwieldy" plot.

[3] James Nicoll called it "engaging," with Arcadia being an "odd and melancholy world," and lauded Ng's choice to reveal only the "shadow of [her] worldbuilding, [such that readers] are left to puzzle out the larger implications on their own.

A Gothic novel with protagonist named Cathy and a childhood spent on the Yorkshire moors alludes to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.