From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The
Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours, an intricately plotted,
spellbinding new novel of heartstopping suspense and uncovered secrets.
Living on her family's gorgeous lakeside estate in Cornwall, England,
Alice Edevane is a bright, clever, inquisitive, innocent, and
precociously talented fourteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But
the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to
endure....
One midsummer's eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests
to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest son,
Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears
the family apart in ways they never imagined, leaving their estate as
empty as their broken hearts.
Nearly sixty years later, having enjoyed a long, successful career as an
author, Alice is now eighty years old and living in London. Theo's case
has never been solved, though Alice still harbours a suspicion as to the
culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London
police force, is staying at her grandfather's house in Cornwall. While
out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate--now crumbling and
covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is
sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice
together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more
present than ever.
A lush, atmospheric tale of intertwined destinies, this latest novel
from a masterful storyteller is spellbinding and satisfying.
