Bitter Orange

FROM THE WOMEN''S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND

''A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier'' The Times

Frances Jellico is dying.

A man who calls himself the vicar visits, hoping to extract a deathbed confession. He wants to know what really happened that fateful summer of 1969, when Frances - tasked with surveying a dilapidated country house - first set eyes on the glamorous bohemian couple, Cara and Peter. She recalls the relationship they forged through sweltering days, lavish dinners and elaborate lies, and the Judas hole through which she would spy on the couple.

Were the signs there right from the beginning?

Or was it impossible to avoid the crime that split their lives open like rotten fruit?

***

''Bewitching, otherworldly . . . full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller'' Scotsman

''An atmospheric page-turner that speeds us towards a bloody climax of shocks and surprises'' Irish Times

''Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy'' Mail on Sunday

''Multi-layered, lush, twisty and brilliantly clever'' Sunday Mirror