'Brilliant' SUNDAY TIMES 'Compelling and unnerving' SPECTATOR This first collection of stories by Lawrence Osborne perfectly showcases his talent for tension, atmosphere - and characters out of their depth -------------------------------------------------------------------- A deaf girl hired as a maid by a wealthy New York couple turns the tables on her obliviously abusive employers and answers blackmail with blackmail. A psychiatrist treating a girl in rural England becomes ensnared in a love affair that threatens to destroy her career. A naïve young linguist sent to the forests of Irian Jaya is manipulated into betraying her mission by a ruthless and disturbed pastor. Lawrence Osborne’s stories explore characters lost in the shadowed borders between the mundane, the fantastical and the violence of the natural world. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘This is stylish, subversive fiction from a writer at the top of his game’ New Statesman, Books of