Anna's personal life is in crisis. Her marriage is struggling, and the disastrous affair she began as consolation has now become a millstone around her neck. The place where she feels most secure is the safe and ordered world of the classroom - until a new pupil arrives in her English group. Kali is beautiful and bright, but also vulnerable. Anna tells herself that it's only natural for a caring teacher to show concern for a troubled student, and believes their developing friendship can save them both. But when that friendship begins to tip over into something more intense, Anna finds her professional and domestic lives caught up together in a spiral that threatens to destroy everyone she ever cared about. 'Only Kate Long could get a character into such a mess, and get her out of it, with such warmth, skill and assurance' The Times 'A complex psychological portrait . . . And cracking story-telling too' Independent on Sunday 'Compassionate and compelling' Woman and Home