The inaugural winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction
Electrifying and original
The Guardian
Written so seductively that passages sing out from the page
The Sunday Times
Catherine and her brother, Rob, don't know why they have been abandoned by their parents. Incarcerated in the enormous country house of their grandfather - 'the man from nowhere' - they create a refuge against their family's dark secrets, and against the outside world as it moves towards the First World War. As time passes, their sibling love deepens and crosses into forbidden territory. But they are not as alone in the house as they believe...