Isabel Burley returns to her childhood home to look after her mother, Serena, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. There she finds a bemused, angry, charming old woman, prey to the threats of failing memory, the inability to run her own home – and the local villains who are eyeing her isolated home.
As the villains inexorably move in, Isabel finds herself struggling with another threat from within. She thinks she has gone home to do some good, but is she really looking for the love she lacked as a child? Alienated by her mother’s growing eccentricity, the two women become locked in a relationship of love, hatred and simmering violence, with roots that go deep into the past.
As the villains inexorably move in, Isabel finds herself struggling with another threat from within. She thinks she has gone home to do some good, but is she really looking for the love she lacked as a child? Alienated by her mother’s growing eccentricity, the two women become locked in a relationship of love, hatred and simmering violence, with roots that go deep into the past.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Her knowledge of the workings of the human mind - or more correctly the soul - is second to none
Undiluted brilliance
Fyfield's writing is always elegant and precise, her characters are finely drawn
Fyfield at her best is compelling, disturbing, but always elegant