Eight-year-old Clara, isolated by her distraught parents' efforts to protect her from the truth, is grief-stricken and bewildered. Liam Kane, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.

**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO FOUR**

Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a novel of painful histories and the moments in life when we can change for the better.

Clara's rebellious older sister is missing. Grief-stricken and bewildered, she yearns to uncover the truth about what happened.

Liam, newly divorced and newly unemployed, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.

Elizabeth is thinking about a crime committed thirty years ago, one that had tragic consequences for two families. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.

**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE**

'I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel' Anne Tyler

'Close to perfection' The Times

'Exquisitely poignant' Liane Moriarty