Does Amber really have Rachel’s best interests at heart or is there something darker going on? Only one thing is clear: Rachel is being lied to. Never quite knowing who to believe, her search for the truth will reveal her picture-perfect family as anything but flawless.I won’t say her name. Whatever she says, whatever Rachel’s behaviour implies, it’s a lie. They’ve re-cut the truth, stitched a false flag from the scraps. I loved Rachel with all my heart – with a mother’s heart – even when she was at her very worst. All I wanted to do was protect her, from herself most of all.Loosely based on a true story, this is perfect for fans of Sabine Durrant, Teresa Driscoll and Kate Riordan – a gripping read to be devoured in one sitting, bursting with tension, layered characters and relationships which are never as simple as they first seem . . .What I know now is this: you don’t know what rock bottom feels like until you’re face down on the ground. You think she wants to help.
You’re wrong. It pains me to admit it, but Nick was probably right to hold me back. He knew how much I wanted to scream at the huddle of journalists – bedraggled and desperate in the grey drizzle, like foxes skulking around the bins – to tell them that it was her who needed restraining, not me.
I know what you’re thinking. You’ve read about us in the papers, haven’t you? Something scurrilous in the Mail with a picture of our perfect family, our perfect daughter, before she burnt it to the ground, or an ‘opinion piece’ in a broadsheet masquerading as a treatise on modern life. You’ve probably seen that terrible picture of Nick and I coming down the stone steps of our house – correction, my house – his arm lassoed around my shoulder, looking more like a harness than an expression of love. You thought how much older I looked than in the previous shots, how unkempt. It’s ironic: I used to think nothing of a blow- dry or a manicure for some pointless drinks party in Shepherd’s Bush on a Thursday night, and now I’m so far divorced from my old life that I’m prepared to be googled into perpetuity looking like some kind of crazed bag lady.
When her party-animal daughter, Rachel, spins out of control, Lily hires a renowned therapist and healer to help her. Amber is the skilled and intuitive confidante that Rachel desperately needs. But as Rachel falls increasingly under Amber’s spell, she begins to turn against her parents, and Lily grows suspicious.
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Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon UK Lily Appleby will do anything to protect the people she loves. She’s made ruthless choices to make sure their secrets stay buried, and she’s not going to stop now.