In 1894 the SS Arcadia sets sail from Liverpool. On board are Eva Hamilton and her husband Frederick. A newly married couple setting off for a new life in Australia. Only, a few miles from the Western shores of Australia the Arcadia is hit by an unexpected storm...Years later, Olivia Hamilton makes the same journey under very different circumstances. Still dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death and her experiences of war torn London, she has returned to her homeland to discover the truth about her birth. For in her late mother's effects, Olivia has discovered her own adoption certificate. Although Eva was never one for hugs and kisses, Olivia had still grown up in the secure knowledge that her mother loved her. This had more than made up for the fact that her older sister had never hidden her dislike. Was these documents the cause of Irene's antipathy? Now Olivia needs Irene's help to discover the truth about her origins. Only the years have not mellowed her sister's hatred. And while Olivia's is determined to pursue her quest for the truth, like Eva Hamilton all those years ago, she has no idea where this journey will take her...
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Editorial Reviews
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'A good Australian saga that will keep you happily reading all day.' Woman's Weekly 'A gripping read.' Lancashire Evening Post 'Fyfield at her best compelling disturbing but always elegant ... ' - Minette Walters 'Her knowledge of the workings of the human mind - or more correctly the soul - is second to none.' - Ian Rankin 'Undiluted brilliance.' - The Times 'Frances Fyfield is now universally acclaimed as one of this country's finest crime writers, with a depth of psychological understanding quite the equal of the previously unassailable duo of PD James and Ruth Rendell. The intense and expressive quality of her prose illuminates narratives that both celebrate traditional storytelling values and explode them. Undercurrents may well be her most disturbing work yet. In the past, some male readers may have been discomforted by her recurring preoccupation with male violence against women, but Henry Evans, the protagonist of this novel, is the perfect conduit for both the male and female reader into a truly mesmerising narrative. When Henry was backpacking around India some 20 years before, he encountered the beguiling Francesca Chisholm. Francesca's father died, and Henry's reluctance to alter his travel plans obliged her to leave without him. For all of his adult life, he has regretted this decision, and finally resolves to travel to the English coastal town of Warbling (the name is the book's only miscalculation) to track her down. But Henry is in for a shock. It's a very wet February, and his hotel is flooded, so he is obliged to stay at a strange alternative hostel. The solicitor who has traced Francesca suggests that he regard her as dead but Henry persists. He discovers that Francesca has confessed to killing her five-year-old son, drowning him in the sea. She is imprisoned and the case appears to be closed. But is it? Henry decides to find out precisely what happened. And his scarifying odyssey into the dark night of the soul--both his and hers--is something he finds himself unprepared for. Fyfield adroitly presents her protagonist with an implacable mystery--but the solving of this mystery is no mechanical trick, as it so often was in the golden age of crime fiction. The journey Henry undertakes will change him forever, and the insights into the troubled Francesca's psyche are as rich and profound as anything in literary fiction. As always with this author, the characters are fastidiously created, and the taut structure of the plot is accentuated by the relative brevity of her narrative. Some may wish for a longer book, but there isn't a wasted word here, and anyone in doubt as to Fyfield's position in the pantheon of English crime writing should not hesitate.' - Barry Forshaw, Amazon.co.uk
About the Author
Author was born in Australia, and divides her time between Australia and the UK
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