‘One of our finest living authors … propulsively entertaining’ New York Times
'Sly, profound … Electrifying' Observer
‘Wonderfully strange and alive’ Jon McGregor

A propulsive, seductive new novel about friendship, exploitation and intimacy from the prize-winning author of Where Reasons End



Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised – the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape ten years ago. Now, Agnès is free to tell her story.


As children in a backwater town, they’d built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves – until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune, and terrible loss.



‘Beguiling … A shimmering, unsettling tale of exploitation and manipulation’ Daily Mail




‘Haunting and strange … Li has made her style her own’ Tessa Hadley, Guardian




‘A dazzling, subtle, skilful knockout’ Charlotte Mendelson, author of The Exhibitionist