Description:

**Maggie O'Farrell's captivating and critically acclaimed gothic tale of family secrets and the irrepressible freedom that truth brings** Chic and independent, Iris Lockhart is tending to her vintage-clothing shop in Edinburgh (and evading her married boyfriend) when she receives a stunning phone call: her great-aunt Esme—whom she never knew existed—is being released from Cauldstone Hospital, where she has been locked away for more than sixty years. Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her father in Esme’s face. Esme has been labeled harmless—sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world—but she's still basically a stranger, a family member hidden away who will surely bring secrets with her when she leaves the ward. Moving expertly among the voices of Iris, Kitty, and Esme herself, Maggie O'Farrell reveals the story of Esme's tragic and haunting absence. ** ### From Publishers Weekly *Starred Review.* O'Farrell (*After You'd Gone*) delivers an intricate, eloquent novel of family malice, longings and betrayal. Slim, stylish Iris Lockhart runs a dress shop in contemporary Edinburgh when she's not flirting with her stepbrother Alex or rendezvousing with her married attorney lover, Luke. Esme Lennox, meanwhile, is ready to be discharged from the soon-to-be-closed psychiatric hospital where she's been a patient (read: virtual prisoner) for 61 years. Iris becomes aware of Esme's existence when she's informed, to her disbelief, that she has been granted power of attorney over Esme by Kitty Lockhart, Iris's Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother. It turns out Kitty and Esme are sisters, but Kitty kept quiet about Esme after she was hospitalized at age 16. Layer upon layer of Lockhart family secrets are laid bare—the truth behind Esme's institutionalization, why her existence was kept a secret, and a twist involving Iris's parents—as Iris mulls over what to do with her new charge, and Esme and Kitty reconnect. O'Farrell maintains a high level of tension throughout, and the conclusion is devastating. *(Oct.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist Flosnik’s light British tones enhance O’Farrell’s fourth novel, which spans generations and continents. The tale takes listeners back in time to India as well as to contemporary Scotland. Thirtysomething Iris Lockhart learns that she has power of attorney for Esme Lennox, an elderly relative who is soon to be released from a mental institution where she has been a resident for more than 60 years. Prior to the notice, Lockhart never knew of the existence of Lennox, who is the sister of Lockhart’s grandmother, now afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Flosnik reads flashbacks, flash-forwards, and shifting narrative viewpoints with ease. Her intonations darken delicately around the edges when Lockhart learns of the shameful treatment Lennox received, and her voice nimbly brightens when recounting Lennox’s happier teenage years. She is also particularly effective in her portrayal of the grandmother, whose Alzheimer’s-impaired memories shimmer like heat lightning and then disappear. --Whitney Scott