He's coming home. Upstairs, Lizzie knows, her daughters are safe in their beds. Joanne, still young enough to smile at strangers, one last summer of childhood left in her.

Katie, already a beauty, the first flush of womanhood blooming on her skin. Both sleeping soundly. But out beyond the boundary of their land, the townspeople sleep fitfully.

Too many have heard that Jasper is coming back - folk who know him of old, who remember what he did - men who will make it their business to see he doesn't stay too long round these parts.

'Opens Vanessa Ronan's literary career the way dynamite opens a safe ... beautiful and invigoratingly shocking' Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times

'Vivid storytelling...makes your fingers tremble when you turn the pages. The terror and the pity of it will stay with you for a long time' Sunday Times

'A powerful, formidable debut. Vanessa Ronan is a natural storyteller and what a gripping, dark, compelling story this is' Donal Ryan