PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\nI walk into the parlor first. It\u2019s dark in here, the space illuminated only by scattered light through a series of alarming vertical tears along the bottoms of the velvet curtains. It takes me only a moment or two to wonder about those tears, because the air is so heavy with dust I can taste it with every breath, but there\u2019s another scent, a faded hint of musk and decay. Growing up in the country, this is a smell I know all too well. Rats and mice have thrived in this house over the years.<\/p>\n
This realization has me walking quickly across to tug the curtains open, just in time for me to hear a car door slam, followed by pounding against the front door. I sigh as I walk to pull the front doors open, then wince as the hinge gives that long, ominous creak.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat have you done, Fiona?\u201d Mum whispers fiercely. \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Kelly Rimmer.<\/p>\n
Kirsten Cunningham Photography<\/p>\n
Virginia Winslow is famously calm and reserved. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen her angry \u2014 maybe I even assumed she was incapable of the emotion \u2014 but right now, her small hands are curled into fists by her side. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s standing a few steps back from the door in the middle of the wide veranda, dressed in her usual chinos with a busily patterned button-down. Her only concession to the cold wind is a knitted navy vest. Mum\u2019s thick hair has been a steely silver for as long as I can remember, cut into the same short style. She\u2019s 80 years old but she\u2019s always looked much younger than her age.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCome in,\u201d I say carefully, and I step back from the door to hold it open, making room for her. A pained, fearful twist passes across Mum\u2019s face as she glances into the foyer. All at once, I am reminded that we held Uncle Tad\u2019s wake in the ballroom here because it was the logical place to do so, but my mother tried everything to insist on a different venue, to the point that Jon had to put his foot down about the matter. As much as Mum loathes this house, Tad loved it, and there was no more fitting venue to celebrate his life.<\/p>\n
But even at the time, I understood where Mum was coming from. It was Mum who found Tad the morning after he died, and she found him right here in his bed. Plus, she didn\u2019t exactly love Wurimbirra even before she discovered her brother\u2019s body here. Even when I was a child, Mum jumped at every creaking floorboard, and shuddered every time a window rattled in the wind.\n<\/p>\n
And then to arrive one ordinary New Year\u2019s Day to find her brother had died in his sleep overnight \u2026 I can\u2019t imagine how that moment has haunted her.\n<\/p>\n
A 3D version of ‘The Story Keeper’ by Kelly Rimmer.<\/p>\n
MIRA<\/p>\n
Her shoulders slump, and she takes a step backwards, towards the stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cTad treated you like his own daughter,\u201d she says, shaking her head. \u201cHe showered you with love and generosity and care. After everything he did for you, he asked one thing from you and Jon, and you kids can\u2019t even honor that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMum, Jon couldn\u2019t ignore this place forever. He had legal obligations\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think you know this house,\u201d she interrupts me, nostrils flaring again. \u201cYou\u2019ve been so sure that you had already figured out everything there is to know about it. Well, now you\u2019re going to be here all alone, and maybe you\u2019ll finally understand.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
She turns to leave, and goosebumps break out all over my skin as a shiver runs down my spine. I take a step out the door towards her as I blurt,<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstand what, Mum?\u201d<\/p>\n
She glances back at me and gives a heavy sigh. Her gaze is hollow.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory doesn\u2019t always stay in the past, Fiona. I hope to God you know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d
Excerpted from\u00a0The Story Keeper\u00a0by Kelly Rimmer, Copyright\u00a0\u00a9\u00a02026 by Lantana Management PTY Ltd. Published by MIRA\/Harlequin Trade Publishing.<\/p>\n
The Story Keeper<\/a> will be published on July 21, 2026 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW PEOPLE has an exclusive excerpt from Kelly Rimmer’s new novel The Story KeeperThe bestselling author…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-34427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}