First published 1993
Liza Doura arrives at the Crowley estate expecting a straightforward position as companion to an ailing matriarch. What she discovers instead is a pressure cooker of repressed desires and dangerous tensions. The household harbors complex emotional entanglements that threaten to consume her—each relationship charged with unspoken motivations and potential betrayal. As Liza becomes increasingly enmeshed in the family's intricate dynamics, she realizes her own survival depends on navigating a treacherous social landscape where nothing is as it first appears. The fragile balance of power could shatter at any moment, with devastating consequences for everyone involved.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-Century
224 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics