From the author of the internationally bestselling The
Lake of Dead Languages comes a gripping novel about
madness, motherhood, love, and trust.
When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull
up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne’s new employer,
it feels like they’ve entered a whole new world. Tucked
in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something
out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view
of the mental asylum just beyond its border. Daphne
secured the live-in position using an assumed name and
fake credentials, telling no one that she’s on the run
from a controlling husband who has threatened to take her
daughter away.
Daphne’s new life is a far cry from the one she had in
Westchester where, just months before, she and her
husband welcomed little Chloe. From the start, Daphne
tries to be a good mother, but she’s plagued by dark
moods and intrusive thoughts that convince her she’s
capable of harming her own daughter. When Daphne is
diagnosed with Post Partum Mood Disorder, her downward
spiral feels unstoppable—until she meets Laurel Hobbes.
Laurel, who also has a daughter named Chloe, is
everything Daphne isn’t: charismatic, sophisticated,
fearless. They immediately form an intense friendship,
revealing secrets to one another they thought they’d
never share. Soon, they start to look alike, dress alike,
and talk alike, their lives mirroring one another in
strange and disturbing ways. But Daphne realizes only too
late that being friends with Laurel will come at a very
shocking price—one that will ultimately lead her to that
towering mansion in the Catskills where terrifying, long-
hidden truths will finally be revealed....