'One of our finest living authors ... propulsively entertaining' New York Times'Sly, profound ... Electrifying' Observer'Wonderfully strange and alive' Jon McGregor A propulsive, seductive new novel about friendship, exploitation and intimacy from the prize-winning author of Where Reasons End Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised - the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape ten years ago. Now, Agnès is free to tell her story.As children in a backwater town, they'd built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves - until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune, and terrible loss. 'Beguiling ... A shimmering, unsettling tale of exploitation and manipulation' Daily Mail 'Haunting and strange ... Li has made her style her own' Tessa Hadley, Guardian 'A dazzling, subtle, skilful knockout' Charlotte Mendelson, author of The Exhibitionist