Subtle intelligent and humane' Sunday Telegraph 'Boyne not only opens up conversations he
writes beautifully and sensitively' Woman&Home '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
Post ___________From 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''Packs a
hard hitting punch with its depth of emotional understanding of what it is to be human''What an
astoundingly brilliant piece of writing this is . . . by its end you feel as though you have
read something much more epic in length
