by Mary Stewart
First published 1987
Mary Grey lives alone in a shabby rented room with no prospects ahead of her. Her resemblance to Annabel Winslow, a vanished heiress, catches the attention of someone with a plan. The physical similarities are striking. Her manner of walking matches. Even her smile mirrors Annabel's. Mary sees an opportunity to escape her bleak circumstances and agrees to pose as the missing woman. She transforms from ordinary Mary Grey into the sophisticated Annabel Winslow, stepping into a world of privilege and possibility. But the masquerade turns dangerous when Mary realizes that Annabel's disappearance was no accident. Someone orchestrated it deliberately. That same person now threatens Mary's life, determined to keep Annabel gone forever. Mary must navigate the deception while staying alive, trapped between her false identity and mortal peril.
Genres: suspense, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: identity-swap, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-century
272 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Fawcett