'Appignanesi's knowledge of the politics and culture of the era shines' Publishers Weekly Paris, 1990. Comte de Landois has ordered his wife Marguerite to travel from Paris, to join him in the Loire Valley. Her journey into the pastoral quiet is shattered by the appearance of a dead man on the railway tracks. Who is he? And why does Marguerite's young travelling companion pale when she sees him? When the Comte presents Marguerite with an adopted baby, and his sudden friendship with local clerics imposes new rules and regulations on her behaviour, things start to take a sinister and troubling turn. The sister of her young companion goes missing and Marguerite calls in Chief Inspector Durand to help hunt her down. Together, they begin to unravel a tangled world of small-town secrets, disturbing obsessions and unholy loves. Intriguing, chilling and lyrical, Sacred Ends is a rich and complex page-turner of a thriller that brings the Belle Époque to life before soaring to its astonishing conclusion. 'A song for the Belle Époque ... lyrical, emotive and wild all at the same time' TripFiction 'Her examination of human psychology has a forensic intensity' Barry Forshaw, CrimeTime