A heart-stopping novel from the WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 ** ' A brilliantly plotted thrilling fable unravelling dark, sad secrets' Mail on Sunday 'There are things you should know about blackmail . . . ' At thirty-eight Simone has responsibilities: she's a district judge with two small boys and a husband on the verge of bankruptcy and breakdown. When she receives a letter postmarked New York she has no idea that opening it will threaten all she has worked for and call into question her judgement. For the photographs contained in the letter remind her of things she regrets from twenty years ago, and a man she'd decided to forget. **But blackmail, like the heart, never forgets . . . 'A highly charged, haunting novel . . . beautifully wrought' The Times 'Excellently readable, genuinely disturbing' Anita Brookner, Spectator **