Although she hadn't seen her god-daughter for several years, Isabel feels duty-bound to help when Emily gets into trouble and takes her under her wing. To her surprise Emily is determined not to be a sponger and gets herself a job as nanny. Emily discovers her charge is illegitimate, the offspring of the naive daughter of a well-to-do couple and a ne'er-do-well conman who disappeared before the baby was born. Now, unknown to Emily, he is back and determined to exploit his status as parent in return for some cash, and she is violently caught up in his botched attempts at blackmail. Desperately trying to protect her charge from physical and psychological harm, Emily also tries to shield Isabel from becoming entangled in the drama. Then events beyond her control force her to act instinctively but with horrendous effect as her own and other lives are put at risk. Once again Margaret Yorke uses the effect of extraordinary events on every day lives to gripping effect in a tense and chilling novel of suspense.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
More psychological suspense from a well-known Britisher (Act of Violence, LJ 7/98), this effort follows the local secrets exposed by a stranger and the aftermath when her true identity is discovered. Captivating and full-bodied.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Life, it seems, continues on an imperturbable course in cozy Northtown until the arrival of two strangers. One is Emily Frost, whom her godmother Isabel Vernon, though she hasn't seen her for many years, bails out of prison after she's arrested for an environmental demonstration turned violent. The other is Godfrey Sutton, paid off long ago to leave sheltered Alice Watkinson alone, who now returns to find that he's got a four-year-old daughter, Rowena. With a few deft strokes, Yorke (Act of Violence, 1998, etc.) brings these two lost souls together but doesn't move them to share their secrets: Godfrey, that Rowena Watkinson is the daughter he's determined to get access to; Emily, that she isn't Emily Frost at all. As the two plot at darkly comic cross-purposesGodfrey's designs against Alice and the frail parents who booted him out turning from extortion to abductionYorke patiently reveals the ways in which these two pariahs are expressing the resentment that's already been seething inside lonely Alice Watson and ill-matched Isabel and her primly minatory husband Douglas, civil servant and landscape gardener (one of the authors slyest portraits of engorged self-satisfaction). Even after the final quiet twist, you'll be wishing you could spend more time among Yorke's dextrously skewered misfits. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner from Ms. Yorke!,
By A Customer
This review is from: False Pretences (Hardcover)
This is a very British novel along the lines of Ruth Rendell (but not as intense!) and is rather typical of Ms. Yorke, whose work I feel is sadly overlooked. Her novels are wonderfully descriptive of the modern day life of genteel, intelligent middleaged women who find themselves in dangerous/mysterious situations. This novel's heroine is a goodhearted independent lady in a blah marriage who takes the big step of bringing a girl she believes to be her godchild into her home. The girl goes to work as a nanny for a neighboring family and a kidnapping plot unfolds. Smart, amusing, clever, sad, suspenseful as all of Ms. Yorke's novels are. Detailed portrait of modern day English lives. I highly recommend it, and all of the author's wonderful novels.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent portrayal of the menace in our everyday life.,
By A Customer
This review is from: False Pretences (Hardcover)
Margaret Yorke captures the desperation of the unhappy housewife and the lonely and abused teen. She seems to be a master of making the reader feel empathetic toward her characters. The evil in the character of Godfrey added the touch of menace that makes for a good read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
False Pretenses,
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This review is from: False Pretences (Paperback)
Margaret Yorke is a world unto herself. Her mysteries are tight, detailed, interesting and always contain a twist.
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