At fifteen Daisy confident & cherished is appalled to hear that Ruths father locked her in the old garden ice house as a childhood punishment: no wonder her friend shelters in make believe. The revelation of that primitive cruelty cements a friendship in which protection plays no small part. Years later middle aged they remain close friends & live on the same street. So when Daisys husband dies suddenly Ruths discovery that the marriage was unhappy is the first stage in the unravelling of the certainties she has wrapped around her adult life. Friendship love marriage & above all the scorching effects of adultery come under the microscope in this dextrous novel. Journeying from a terrifying suburban household to its unexpected conclusion in the Egyptian Pharaohs tombs The Ice House is startling tragic & humorous by turns.