'Taut, clever, compelling and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat…' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

You think you know her…
But look a little closer

She is a stay-at-home mother of three with boundless reserves of patience, energy and love. After being friends for a decade, this is how Liz sees Jess.

Then one moment changes everything.

Dark thoughts and carefully guarded secrets surface – and Liz is left questioning everything she thought she knew about her friend, and about herself.

From the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal – a new thought-provoking novel exploring the complexity of motherhood and all that connects and disconnects us.

‘Highly recommended' Erin Kelly

‘An important book as well as a brilliant read’ Lucy Foley

'This tense, absorbing read will have parents – in fact, all readers – turning the pages deep into the night' Louise Candlish

‘Refreshingly assured and punchy writing that is sure to hit a nerve’ Lucy Atkins

'Impossible to put down’ Eve Chase

‘I loved it and didn’t want to put it down’ Laura Marshall

'Compulsive reading with an ending I didn’t see coming' Jane Corry

*‘*Each character is brilliantly drawn, and the book delivers surprise after surprise’ Claire Fuller

‘Absolutely brilliant; an emotionally devastating story’ Emma Curtis

'Every bit as brilliant as Anatomy of a Scandal. Superb' Cass Green

'A truly remarkable book' Claire Douglas

'Complex, nuanced and moving' Guardian

'Thought provoking and delicately executed' The i

'A cunningly plotted mystery' Daily Mirror

‘Sarah Vaughan brings to this book the same tension building expertise that made her bestseller Anatomy of a Scandal such a success’ Daily Mail

‘An emotional, often terrifying, and completely gripping read’ Daily Express

'Expertly crafted... Fans of Anatomy may miss the courtroom tension, but the psychological portraiture in this absorbing study of motherhood is just as rich' Sunday Times

‘Full of painful truths about the brutal aspect of motherhood, this punchy thriller is sharply plotted’ Sunday Mirror

'Sarah Vaughan… is back with her fourth novel, the shocking, impossible-to-look-away Little Disasters' Observer

'Another thought-provoking psychological drama' Woman & Home

'An important book exploring how everything changes once you become a mother - for good and bad' Woman's Weekly

'In a culture that fetishises motherhood, Sarah Vaughan's novel is an invaluable corrective, a warning about the terrible effects parenting can have on mental health. It is also a very cunningly plotted mystery' Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express

'A gripping read' John Boyne