Richard's Review:

There’s a touch of Dickens’s Great Expectations at the start of this story: mysterious, impossibly wealthy benefactor; smooth-talking lawyer; baffled but grateful recipient.

But there the similarities end. Ruth Kelly has written a spine-tingler of a tale, full of haunting twists and turns. It has the feel of something of a classic as you turn the pages, although it starts off in a very modern, contemporary way. Adele, a struggling on-line influencer in a struggling marriage, gets tipsy late one night and has ‘a lightbulb moment’. She appeals to her few thousand followers to crowd-fund her ‘dream’ of buying a romantic French chateau.

The response by next morning is overwhelming. In the worst possible way. Adele is roundly reviled by hundreds of trolls. ‘Entitled whore!’ ‘Scrounger!’ ‘Bitch, you’re almost 30 - try growing up!’ Her ‘lightbulb’ has been comprehensively blown.

Judy's Review:

Or has it?

In the midst of Adele’s despair and bitter self-recrimination comes a glimmer of hope. A lawyer’s email informs her that a wealthy philanthropist was touched by her appeal and wishes to buy the chateau as a gift for her and her husband. Intrigued, Adele and Jack meet the lawyer and are assured the offer, if eccentric, is genuine.

And so, they move to rural southern France. At first, all is well. The villa is beautiful – nine bedrooms, gorgeous gardens, luxurious swimming pool – and Adele’s fickle followers multiply as they follow Adele and Jack’s progress in Provence.

And then, just as their first winter sets in, the couple vanish. Into thin air. Adele’s desperately-worried sister Erin drives direct from England to investigate. She finds an empty chateau and a secretive, openly hostile local community. What has happened to Adele and Jack? Who is their shadowy benefactor?

An electrifying winter read. We promise you’ll love it.