A Guardian Best Thriller Novel of 2023
Zoe Ball's Radio 2 Book Club pick
Mesmerising, haunting and utterly remarkable, this is a devastating story of fantasy and obsession inspired by a murder that took place almost a hundred years ago.
'Exquisite' - Will Dean, author of Dark Pines
'This is a book that will stay with you' - Ann Cleeves, bestselling author of the Vera series
'Compelling, twisty and wonderfully suspenseful' - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
London, 1923. Like so many single women after the Great War, Beatrice Cade, a thirty-seven-year-old typist, is holding tight to her small scrap of independence and trying to build a life for herself.
When charismatic visiting salesman Tom Ryan directs his attention at her, Bea falls hard for him. But Ryan is married with a child. And his wife, Kate, has worked to create a seemingly happy domestic life. When Bea is found dead and Tom Ryan is in the frame for her murder, it looks like Kate will do anything to protect her family . . .
