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Author: Boyne, John

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 2 November 2023 by Transworld Publishers Ltd (Doubleday) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 176 pages
144 x 224 x 20 | 294g

‘A perceptive, moving exploration of guilt, grief and complicity’ Sunday Express‘Boyne does not put a foot wrong in this masterly novella’ Mail on Sunday’An intriguing investigation of contemporary trauma… [a] short but powerful book’ Guardian’His quietest novel… but one just as powerful as his larger canvases’ Business PostFrom million-copy-bestselling author John Boyne comes a masterfully reflective story about one woman coming to terms with the demons of her past and finding a new path forward.

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past.

But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes?Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did – and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.

Can you ever truly wash away your past?What readers are saying:’A scorching, devastating tale”Powerful, challenging and beautifully written’’Compelling, propulsive, and completely immersive’’Written with the same emotional intensity and thought provoking honesty as his longer works’