Delphine de Vigan is the prize-winning author of bestselling No and Me, which was a Richard & Judy selection in Britain, Nothing Holds Back the Night, Underground Time and Based on a True Story. She lives in Paris.

George Miller is the translator into English of all four of Delphine de Vigan's titles. He is also a regular translator for Le Monde diplomatique's English-language edition.

What happens when adults are as lost as the children they're supposed to be protecting? From the author of the Richard and Judy Book Club Pick No and Me

'Packs a hefty emotional punch. It reminded me of Leila Slimani's terrific Lullaby' Bookseller

'Narrated with punch and pace. You're kept reading helplessly to the desperate cliffhanger finish' Daily Mail

Thirteen-year-old Théo and his friend Mathis have a secret.

Their teacher, Hélène, suspects something is not right with Théo and becomes obsessed with rescuing him, casting aside her professionalism to the point of no return.

Cécile, mother of Mathis, discovers something horrifying on her husband's computer that makes her question whether she has ever truly known him.

Respectable facades are peeled away as the four stories wind tighter and tighter together, pulling into a lean and darkly gripping novel of loneliness, lies and loyalties.

The latest literary sensation

Delphine de Vigan coils these stories together in a taut, intense novel of secrets, lies and the unknowable depths of others

Delphine de Vigan's dark family thrillers are a cult sensation

One of the finest writers of psychological fiction in France today

Short and achingly affecting

De Vigan's sure grasp of the trauma that comes with abuse and the horrible dilemmas that build up around seeking help make this noteworthy fiction

It's a deceptively simple novel, an impression enhanced by the unfussy prose, shorn of literary flourish or artifice, but a powerful, thought-provoking one

Frighteningly honest, precise and thrilling

The novel casts a spell of enchantment ... Utterly brilliant