Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; one of the Wall Street Journal's best books by women in 2010. “Complex, suspenseful, and almost hypnotically readable.â€â€”Margot Livesey, Boston Sunday Globe
In a silent valley in southern France stands an isolated stone farmhouse, the Mas Lunel. Aramon, the owner, is so haunted by his violent past that he's become incapable of all meaningful action, letting his hunting dogs starve and his land go to ruin. Meanwhile, his sister Audrun, alone in her modern bungalow within sight of the Mas Lunel, dreams of exacting retribution for the unspoken betrayals that have blighted her life. Into this closed world comes Anthony Verey, a wealthy but disillusioned antiques dealer from London. When he sets his sights on the Mas, a frightening and unstoppable series of consequences is set in motion."Rose Tremain's writing is so good, she makes us hear English anew," writes the San Francisco Chronicle. This powerful and unsettling work reveals yet another dimension to Tremain's extraordinary imagination.