When Helen Goulburn’s quiet life at her father’s country house is shattered by a sudden midnight flight, she finds herself and her little sister swept into a world of secrecy and pursuit. Crossing borders under assumed names, they take refuge in a small French town whose unfamiliar language and customs deepen their sense of exile. As days turn into months, Helen begins to grasp the gravity of the mystery surrounding her father, and the weight of silence that binds them all. Set between the opulence of English wealth and the subdued rhythms of provincial France, The Fugitives follows a young woman’s awakening amid disgrace, love, and the slow unravelling of family bonds. In her restrained yet deeply felt prose, Margaret Oliphant crafts a story of flight, endurance, and the fragile dignity of those forced to live in the shadow of the past.