Author:Katie Flynn
It is a cold night and Sylvie Dugdale is weeping as she walks by the Mersey. A figure approaches and, dodging aside to avoid him, she falls into the river.
Constable Brendan O'Hara, just coming off duty, sees the girl's plight and dives in to rescue her. He is dazzled by her beauty but Sylvie's husband is in prison and the closeness that Brendan soon longs for is impossible.
Sylvie has to escape from Liverpool, so Brendan arranges for her to stay with his cousin Caitlin in Dublin until it is safe to return. There she meets Maeve, a crippled girl from the slums, who will change all their lives when a little girl is lost ...
Humour, toughness, resolution and generosity are Cookson virtues . . . In the specialised world of women's popular fiction, Cookson has created her own territory
—— Helen Dunmore, The TimesHere is Ruth Rendell on such fantastic form that you'll want to stay up all night racing through to the end.
—— Val Hennessy , Daily MailA powerful and absorbing narrative told with elegance and subtlety
—— Daily TelegraphRuth Rendell is surely one of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language. The extraordinary depth and accuracy of her psychological portraits is matched only by the rare inventiveness of her storytelling
—— Scott TurowPsychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell’s work is outstanding
—— The TimesEngrossing
—— Choice Magazine