"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