Bella was just a girl out of nowhere, more rumour than reality, until the rainy night when she turned the world upside down for undercover officer Thierry Dupois.

Kathryn was a dream to cling to, but a father who could not claim her had no way to hold her.

Amie is a straight enigma. May is a cherished memory, Kitty too good to be true, and Kate? Kate is a problem, a potential asset too talented to ignore but too apt to take her own path to be entirely trusted. David McAllister might have a job for a girl like that, if he can only be sure that she is that kind of girl, and here he compiles the stories he has collected in his search, the stories of a disparate group of men and women, each with some claim to know the lady, whatever name they have known her by.

Hypnotic storyteller Alex Brightsmith presents a portrait of Kathryn Blake – who she is, who she was, and who she might become – through the expertly interwoven tales of ten finely characterized narrators.

Can you find the lady?