A standalone novel from Christobel Kent, bestselling author of The Loving Husband
An isolated Tuscan farmhouse on the edge of an ancient wood is the perfect setting for a late September holiday. As a group of old friends from university and their families gather to relax and unwind, all are hoping it will be a chance to put the tragic events of the previous year behind them. There were six of them once; now they are are five.
Watching the British visitors arrive from her own terrace is Anna Viola, whose family has lived for centuries in the crumbling red-brick farmhouse above Il Vignacce. As a little girl during the war, Anna watched an Englishman arrive at the house, seeking shelter from the Germans. His appearance would change her life for ever; it still haunts the family home she holds in trust for her beloved son Paolo.
Kent is an extremely fine writer and makes terrific use in particular of the Fens' waterlogged, empty landscape in which secrets can be easily buried if never quite forgotten...Terrifyingly good - Metro
Atmospheric and psychologically acute throughout - Sunday Times
Christobel Kent is one of our most assured thriller writers. The Loving Husband is a perfectly paced and plotted novel - Good Housekeeping
Brilliant...A spooky, gripping and affecting story - Louise Doughty
Atmospheric and eerily menacing, this cracking psychological thriller demands to be read with all the lights on - Psychologies on The Crooked House
Christobel Kent is a brilliant writer - India Knight
Christobel Kent was born in London and educated at Cambridge. She has lived variously in Essex, London and Italy. Her childhood included several years spent on a Thames sailing barge in Maldon, Essex with her father, stepmother, three siblings and four step-siblings. She now lives in both Cambridge and Florence with her husband and five children.