A subtle, claustrophobic, seduction of a novel. I loved its dreamy, hazy surface, and its uncomfortable undertow

CLAIRE FULLER, author of the Costa Prize winning Unsettled Ground

A hugely talented writer

SARAH WATERS

Shot through with satire on the culture industry's demand for autobiographical stories of women's lives, the plot resembles a cross between Zoë Heller's Notes On A Scandal and Yael van der Wouden's recent hit The Safekeep. Tense and intelligent, with an excruciating set-piece climax

DAILY MAIL

The book of the summer ... Blistering, compelling, claustrophobic, and sinister ... A summer of mysterious entanglements, self-destruction and a fascinating dissection of feminism and passion in the pursuit of making

HARPERS BAZAAR, The Culture List

Hypnotic and immersive, dreamlike and ferociously paced ... a novel in which every sunlit surface pulses with menace and dread. Utterly addictive

COLIN WALSH, author of Kala

The air is stifling, the mood unsettling, and Ruby is increasingly aware of darker, seductive games at play

SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE