The sensational, chilling new novel from the author of 'In A Dark House'.
Duncan Kincaid has planned for some time to take Gemma, Kit and Toby to visit his family in Cheshire. Gemma is soon entranced with Nantwich town's postcard-pretty half-timbered buildings dusted with snow and the historic winding canal, and young Kit is instantly smitten with his cousin Lally.
But their visit is marred when, on Christmas Eve, Duncan's sister Juliet discovers the mummified body of an infant interred in the wall of an old dairy barn. The shocking event brings Jules to recount the story of Peter Llewellyn - a schoolmate of Lally's who died recently, drowned in the canal in an alcohol related accident.
Meanwhile, on her narrowboat, Annie Lebow prepares for Christmas alone. She thinks about her meeting earlier in the day with the Wain family, which has brought back difficult memories. The family had been her clients six years before, when she worked for child protective services, before her resignation and self-imposed isolation...
As the police make their enquiries, Duncan discovers that life in the lovely market town of his childhood is far from idyllic and that the dreaming reaches of the Shropshire Union Canal hold dark and deadly secrets.
