'I was a different person then, and I was with her on that dawn road. And her death was not an accident, in spite of what it says on her death certificate and what everyone else believes. I should know, because I was there when it happened. So that makes me –?

There’s no need for me to say the words: try working it out for yourself.'

As the sun rises over an idyllic Greek island, Carla Finch lies dead on a lonely road. Beside her Helen North, the only person who can possibly know how Carla died; but the only thing Helen knows for sure is that it can’t have been an accident. Since meeting Carla, neither woman told the complete truth about herself; using make-believe and lies to hide the lives they left behind, and now Helen must lie about the events of their last night together.

As Helen tries to rebuild her life back in England, haunted by remorse and guilt, she is drawn back into the centre of Carla’s life and world. As Helen becomes more involved with Carla’s secrets, she finds herself drawn closer to Carla’s friends, children and above all to Daniel, the man Carla loved. And Helen discovers that she really knew nothing about the woman called Carla.

But when a figure from her island nightmare arrives with questions only Helen can answer, she is forced to confront the truth about that hot, balmy night when Carla died. But in a world where reality and fantasy are becoming more entangled and blurred than ever, can Helen trust her own judgement? And will she ever learn the truth about Carla?

Joanna Hines has lived and worked on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, with her husband the Canadian poet Derrek Hines for over twenty years. She was chosen as one of the first authors in the WH Smith’s Fresh Talent Award for her first novel Dora’s Room and has since published five further novels.