Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0446696013, Paperback)

A powerful and haunting story about three sisters and the tragedy that becomes the center of their lives from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sally Beauman.Summer 1967: In the heart of rural Suffolk, 13-year-old Maisie is at her decaying family home, a former medieval abbey. As an artist paints a portrait of Maisie and her older sisters, arrogant, beautiful Julia and brilliant, bookish Finn, Maisie embarks upon a portrait of her own: an account of her troubled family and her village friend Daniel. Before the summer is through, an accident will have befallen the family-one which changes their lives irrevocably for the worse.Winter 1991: As the now-famous portrait of the Mortland sisters is being featured in a huge exhibition, Daniel seeks to free himself of his obsession with these women by unraveling the secrets of that fateful summer. Readers will be transported, fascinated, and have their hearts broken by this page-turning novel of a most extraordinary family.