From where I stand in the shadows outside the pub I own, I can already tell what mood my husband’s in and it makes me want to stay exactly where I am. However, I can also see my bar manager, Jay. Sexy, young and exciting, he’s the person who’s going to set me free from my middle-aged monotony. I’m dreading turning fifty more than I’ve dreaded any other birthday in my life. Now that my kids are at university, the prospect of spending the rest of my life with my bullying, balding and boring husband is a miserable one.

Six months ago, my husband tried to kill me. Now, my sons and I are living in an old Victorian house passed down to me by my uncle. The house may be big, but the town is small. It's safe, which is something I haven't felt in a very long time. And best of all, it's very far away from my ex.

They say it’s always beautiful in Bethlam, Nevada. No place you’d rather live. The people are friendly, if a little nosy, and there’s no crime to speak of. Life is pretty perfect. But postal worker Hank Davies has started to suspect something is off in this idyllic little town. And he’s certain of that when he realizes the letters he’s been delivering are just blank pages. Hank isn’t the only one who’s noticed the oddities in Bethlam. One such person knocks on his window in the middle of the night, urging him to investigate his bedroom wall.

Helen Appleby just wants a quiet life. Recently released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner, she's trying to forget her past mistakes—all of them—to rebuild her life and move on. When she decides to open a bookshop, she’s certain this is the perfect new start. Here, amongst the quiet shelves of her shop and between the covers of her books, she can hide away from the real world and begin again. But the past can never stay hidden…

Devon Ferrell and Richard Belmont are engaged, in love, and from two different worlds. Devon is as eager to please Richard’s elite parents as she is to leave the traumas of her childhood behind. After all, the Belmonts are her family now. But being brought into the fold is unbalancing her. There are the piercing stares from Richard’s brother, the confounding whispers about Devon’s moods and health. It’s as if the Belmonts are looking for reasons to reject her, to fill her with self-doubt and put her on edge. It’s working. And no one seems to be on Devon’s side. Not even Richard.