In 1957 Lewis Aldridge, newly released from prison, returns home to Waterford, a suburban town outside London. He is nineteen years old. A decade earlier his father's homecoming at war's end was greeted with far less apprehension by the staid, tightly knit community—thanks to Gilbert Aldridge's easy acceptance of suburban ritual and routine. Nobody is surprised that Gilbert's wife counters convention, but the entire community is shocked when, after one of their jaunts, Lewis comes back without her. No one in Waterford wants Lewis back—except Kit, a young woman who sympathizes with his grief and burgeoning rage. But in her attempts to set them both free, Kit fails to foresee the painful and horrifying secrets that must first be forced into the open. The consequences for Lewis, his family, and the tightly knit community are devastating.

賽迪•瓊斯

齣生於倫敦，父親是牙買加裔詩人及劇作傢，母親是演員，自幼在充滿創造與想象力的環境中成長。當朋友們忙著在大學玩樂時，她已曆經各種工作磨練。浪跡天涯後迴到倫敦安定下來，結婚並育有兩個小孩，從事電影劇本寫作。本書是她的第一部小說，一齣版即深獲好評，在文壇上獲奬無數。

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