An audio book.
On the way from London to their new home in Devon Justine (43, with daughter Ellen, 13, an husband Alex, an opera singer) feels a sense of belonging to a house they pass. She wonders what she wants to be in this new life - she's given up her old life because she stuck her neck out for Ben Larenzo. Ellen just wants her to be more normal.
The new house has one phone and bad mobile reception. Ellen seems withdrawn. She writes a story set in the house about Pareen, the youngest sister (of 3) who throws a child, Malarky, to its death from a window. Justine receives a call from a female - "I know you came here to scare me but it won't work. I know who you are". Later the voice tells her to go away, that there are 3 graves, one smaller than the other 2. The voice thinks Justine's name is Sandy. Justine goes to the police.
Ellen tells her school that her mother wants her to concentrate on her story and not do other homework. She tell Justine that she's upset because her best friend George has been suspended. Justine goes to the school. They say that George doesn't exist, though there's a girl with the same surname. Ellen thinks that the sister's going to be suspended too. Justine begins to believe Ellen's idea that the school is hiding something.
Ellen's written story develops. It's set in the house they live in. The sisters are kept home from school in case of reprisals - somebody tried to hang Pareen (or did she fake it to engender sympathy? One sister fears that her academic hopes are being shattered. After Pareen murders twice more, the parents decide to fake evidence to ensure that the police take her away. Then Pareen is murdered.
Ellen takes her mother to see George - but only from such a distance that it could be anyone. The only online mentions of George's parents are about their academic jobs. A schoolboy says that George exists but isn't supposed to be mentioned. A teacher tells Justine the same thing. Finally the head says that George has a security-crazy mother (and weak father) who thinks that the family is in danger (hence their false names).
Justine on a whim goes to the house they passed in London and is offered a dog, Figgy, there, which she takes home. Ellen thinks it's to replace George.
Justine comes home one day to find George playing Monopoly with Ellen. Ellen and George have decided to become engaged, marrying after university. George is gay, which is no problem. Justine reads the story George wrote, given to her by the head. It's based on her London experience. Ben Larenzo had been signed up by Justine's TV company when he defended someome accused of wife-battering. The company dropped Ben, and Justine's series idea too.
Justine thinks that George's mother, Anne Donbervand might be the caller. She hires a detective, who discovers that nothing odd happened in Anne's family - no murders, no name-changing. She thinks that Arwen, the woman from the London house, might be a relative of Anne, and that Anne might be in the family that Ellen's been writing about. Ellen confirms that her story came from George. Justine thinks that she might be the middle sister in Ellen's story.
A hole (a grave) appears in Justine's front garden overnight. Justine finds and talks to Anne's sister Sarah, who says that Anne's in little contact with her family but that nothing funny happened in their family - no murders. Then Justine talks to Stephen, Anne's husband, who hands show that he's been digging. She urges him to deal with his family before something worse happens. She goes home. Anne enters her house with a dead squirrel, denies everything then leaves. Justine goes to Anne's house, breaks in and lets George out. Justine's family go to hide at Arwen's. Justine explains to Ellen that George's story isn't true even though George may believe it. Justine works out that Anne's sister was allergic to dogs, so Anne's family had to get rid of the family pet, Malarky. She thinks that 2 of the sisters in Ellen's story are aspects of Anne
Ellen's story ends with a challenge to the reader to determine Pareen's murderer - all the required facts are there, it claims. Arwen thinks she knows the answer. Arwen and Justine send a message to Anne, claiming it's from a sister in Ellen's story. Arwen pretends to be the sister and brings Anne back to her house, staying in character. Justine's there, being herself, hoping to bewilder Anne by pointing out correspondances between life and Ellen's story. Anne starts strangling a dog. Justine gets into a fight with her and kills her. She never learns why Anne wanted her dead. They dispose of the bod in Anne's garden. Stephen may know this. Ellen and George had worked out that Pareen was murdered by her parents. How does that correspond to something in the real life plot?
The Ellen/Anne/Justine scene at the end is much the best in the book, but doesn't justify the longeurs. The Ben Larenzo storyline doesn't add up to much. Alex's career is soon all but forgotten. The book could be read as an investigation of lying - lies to sustain an imaginary world, white lies, etc.
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