"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