As high-flying TV presenter and historian Olivia Sweetman stands before an adoring crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into lies and if the truth comes out she'll lose everything.

Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward housekeeper of a Sussex manor who has become Olivia's unofficial research assistant. But Vivian has secrets too, and as the relationship between the women grows more and more tangled, a bizarre act of violence changes everything . . .