Day One

Stonesmere is an English seaside suburb defined by poignant traditions passed from generation to generation, and the bonds of small town community spirit. But when a lone gunman disrupts a school assembly, he sets of a chain of events that throws this close-kint town into turmoil.

Marty is a golden girl, albeit one sometimes in the shadow of her father's accomplishments and the care of her mother--an outsider who became a beloved teacher. Meanwhile, Trent's home life is in shambles: the only child of a mother forever on the lookout for the boyfriend who can remake their lives, Trent longs for Stonesmere's stability. But he and his mother only pass through.

In the wake of the violence in Stonesmere, Trent is transfixed by the news coverage of his former home, and his sense that something doesn't quite add up. As he dives deeper, he falls under the spell of a slick online media personality and the conspiracies he peddles. As Marty fumbles to play the part of the grieving good girl, she becomes the focus of these conspiracies--and Trent's attention.

Opening with a gripping moment of terror, and then jumping foward in time to show how secrets, trauma, miscommunications, and unrequited feelings reverberate through a lifetime, Abigail Dean once again delivers, "a riveting page-turner, full of hope in the face of despair." (Sophie Hannah, The Guardian).