When her mother, Eve, tells Liza that she must leave their remote home, the gatehouse of a country mansion, Liza is terrified. Although seventeen years of age, she has never been on a bus or a train, has never played with a child of her own age. She has almost no knowledge of a world described by her mother as evil and destructive.

Their strange, enclosed life together is over because Eve has killed a man. And he is not the first.

With £100 in cash, Liza is cast adrift.

However, she is not alone. There is one particular secret she has kept from her mother - her love affair with a young man who worked in the big house. With him, gradually Liza learns about the world, about herself, and must come to terms with the possibility that the murderous violence of her mother may be present in her.

Arrow Books 1994

- On the title page there's a handwritten text: "Phuket Oct/Nov. -94"

Rendell's book will now travel to Tyrnimarja, I'll mail post office's Helposti envelope in the evening. Enjoy reading!



With the book I'm participating 'Värit ja eläimet -vapautushaaste' release challenge by sakirmo.

Thanks Tarya:)

I enjoyed every moment with this book:) I think it is one of the best stories of Rendell that I have read. I once again admired her ability to create such creepy persons and surroundings.
The story was thrilling and really kept me awake until "the small hours".
I wondered the book´s name, it seemed odd at first. But it turned out to be a very good name for this story.

Thanks Tarya for giving me this Rendell´s 1990s work.