A novel about a man descending into a private hell of destructive sexual jealousy, as he commits a violent act that has a catastrophic effect on the lives of those around him.

Sometimes love isn’t where you belong

In a mountain village in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Gino, a troubled young man, realises that his childhood sweetheart Franca can give his life the happiness and stability he needs. They seem made for each other, and move to a remote house in the countryside - but there is something in Franca’s past that haunts Gino.

Descending into pathological jealousy and resentment towards a married man who had been Franca’s lover, Gino is unable to stop himself imagining the worst, and embarks on a violent path that has catastrophic consequences.

Shifting between tenderness and paranoia, beauty and tragedy, this is an extraordinary novel from one of the UK’s most unpredictable and celebrated writers.

"A wonderfully moody, moving novel, shot through with sadness and with strangeness, and with a simmering power entirely its own." - Sarah Waters

"Lyrical, intense, and haunting, Thomson's Italian psychodrama displays incredible narrative mastery and has the elegance and fluency of a fable. So beautifully written." - Chloe Aridjis

"Beautiful and seething. I liked it deeply." - Claire-Louise Bennet

"An extraordinary writer" - Samantha Morton

"Utterly gripping. There isn’t a writer on the planet who mines the precariousness of the human condition with such terrifying power and clarity." - Julie Myerson

"Gripping" - Literary review

"A beautifully wrought, achingly sad exposition of flawed and frail humanity" - Saga