In 1960s Italy, a family secret rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later. 'Moss makes every moment count' The Sunday Times'A book of lasting pleasures' Eleanor Catton, Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries'Powerful and beautifully written' The GuardianJust out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy.
Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the baby is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever. Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and finally free.
But with the arrival of an unexpected message, Edith must face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime.