A Sainsbury's Magazine Book Club pick 2020

'Tense, dark and so real as to be almost unbearable, this novel is utterly compelling' Rosamund Lupton

Veronica and her wealthy husband George are unpacking boxes, hoping a fresh start in their newly refurbished Victorian terrace will help them heal from a recent trauma. Next door, Simone returns to her neglected council flat. Miserable and trapped, she struggles to take care of her children under the watch of her controlling husband Terry.

When childhood friend Sarah re-enters Veronica’s life, things are thrown even further off balance. As tensions in their own lives rise, the painful memory that binds them threatens to spill into their present.

Three lives collide in this story of family, inequality and revenge.

'An exploration of what it means to be a woman, a moral person, a parent, and a neighbour' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days and Harmless Like You

'Vivid, poignant, and compelling' Saskia Sarginson

'One of our best writers' Louis de Bernières, author of the international bestseller Captain Corelli's Mandolin

'Irresistibly entertaining' A.S. Hatch

'Transfixing' Hilary Boyd, author of Thursdays in the Park and The Lie

'A rare example of fiction that is equally literary and commercial' Ophelia Field, author of The Favourite

'Exquisitely written' Jane Corry, author of My Husband's Wife and Blood Sisters

'Beautifully written' Rachael Blok

'A cut above others in this genre' WI Life magazine

Praise for Jemma Wayne

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAVERTON GOOD READ AWARD

LONGLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN NOT THE BOOKER PRIZE

'Intriguing, moving, absorbing' The Times

'Frank, poignant and bitter-sweet' Edwina Currie

Jemma Wayne is the author of two previous novels: After Before and Chains of Sand. She has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for both The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize and the Waverton Good Read Award.

Jemma's journalism has appeared in The Spectator, National Geographic, The Huffington Post, The Evening Standard, The Independent on Sunday, Red Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish News, among others. Born to an American musician father and English mother, Jemma grew up in Hertfordshire and lives in North London.