Shortlisted: Dundee International Book Prize. Longlisted: Bath Novel Award. 'A timely and intelligent book' - AL Kennedy. 1977: A killer is released from prison and returns 'home' - a decaying, deserted boarding house choked with weeds and foreboding. Memories of strange rituals, gruesome secrets and shame hang heavy in the air, exerting a brooding power over young Stella Moon. She is eager to restart her life, but first she must confront the ghosts of her macabre family history and her own shocking crime. Guilt, paranoia and manipulation have woven a tangled web of truth and lies. All is ambiguous. Of only one thing is she certain... Stella Moon killed her own mother.