In darkness, late at night, a woman returns to her hotel to discover her usual maid has been replaced by a stranger. What begins as an icy exchange, born of weariness, becomes within minutes one of the most extraordinary encounters of her life. It will take her on a journey deep into her past and towards the fateful assignation that already awaits her on the other side of the night.Set amid the elegance and sophistication of the Belle Epoque, and the Gothic splendour of late Victorian England, 'The Hours Before' is a story of drama, mystery and romance, revealing a hidden world of vice and malevolence - but also a pathway of transformation and knowledge.