The new novel from the author of the Sunday Timesbestseller The Silversmith's Wife stunning historical fiction perfect for fans of Tracy Chevalier Broadstairs Kent 1851 Once a sleepy fishing village now a select sea-bathing resort this is a place where people come to take the air & where they come to hide Delphine & her cousin Julia have come to the seaside with a secret one they have been running from for years The clean air & quiet outlook of Broadstairs appeal to them & they think this is a place they can hide from the darkness for just a little longer Even so they find themselves increasingly involved in the intrigues & relationships of other visitors to the town But this is a place with its own secrets & a dark past & when the body of a young girl is found washed up on the beach a mysterious message scrawled on the sand beside her the past returns to haunt Broadstairs & its inhabitants As the incomers are drawn into the mystery & each others' lives they realise they cannot escape what happened here years before A compelling story of secrets lies & lost innocence