"Emily lives with her father in Mexico City, working in the local orphanage. She is obsessed with peculiar facts, Catholic saints and female murderers - from Bonnie Baxter, of Bonnie and Clyde, to Myra Hindley, the Moors murderess.

When a mysterious cousin, Santi, appears on the doorstep he brings with him family secrets and soon Emily finds passion and temptation have transformed her straightforward life forever.

In the follow-up to her acclaimed Orange Prize-longlisted novel, A True Story Based on Lies, Jennifer Clement conjures a world steeped in superstition faith and desire. The Poison that Fascinates is a compulsive, dark tale, a fable of saintliness and mortal sin.

I left the book on the fence, near the ruins of King Edward III's Manor House.