First published 2003
George Magruder and his English wife Louise flee Philadelphia for a quiet winter in the isolated Cornish village of Dando. The stone house they rent sits far from civilization, exactly what Louise wanted. The locals greet them with cold suspicion from the start. Their young daughter Karen makes the first horrible discovery when she finds their pet cat strangled in the snow, its tabby fur scattered across the white ground. The violence escalates when Henry Niles, a convicted child murderer, breaks free and crosses the moor near their home. A local girl vanishes. The villagers turn their rage on the American outsiders. George must decide how far he will go to defend his family when primitive brutality threatens everything he loves. Williams explores what happens when civilized people face savage hatred and asks whether any man can remain peaceful when his home becomes a battlefield.
Genres: suspense, horror, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, outsiders
Setting: Philadelphia, Cornwall, Dando
Period: 20th-century
192 pages · Paperback · Bloomsbury Paperbacks
Content warnings: murder, violence