Publisher's Synopsis
'An absolute masterpiece' John Boyne 'One of the most compulsive psychological mysteries since Donna Tartt's The Secret History . . . impossible to put down' The Times From one of the greatest suspense writers in the world, already lauded as 'one of the novels of 2019', comes a landmark novel of huge ambition.
________________________________________WHAT DO WE HIDE INSIDE OURSELVES? One night changes everything for Toby. He's always led a charmed life - until a brutal attack leaves him damaged and traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at his family's ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins. But not long after Toby's arrival, a discovery is made: a skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden. As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself. A spellbinding standalone from a literary writer who turns the crime genre inside out, The Wych Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, if we no longer know who we are.
________________________________________'The Wych Elm should cement French's place in the first rank of great literary novelists' Observer 'This book confirms Tana French as [crime fiction's] biggest contemporary star' Guardian 'French offers a masterclass in unreliability . . . dissolving the boundaries between genre and literary fiction' Sunday Times 'To say Tana French is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. Rather she's simply this: a truly great writer' Gillian Flynn 'A brilliant examination of male privilege and family secrets' Guardian 'Gripping and suspenseful, with more twists than a rollercoaster, The Wych Elm is a magnificent novel' John Boyne 'Terrific - terrifying, amazing, and the prose is incandescent' Stephen King 'Her best book. Really, it is not a crime novel: as ever, Tana's scope is so much broader than that' Gillian McAllister 'Another one of her rich psychological thrillers that will work its way under your skin' Lucy Mangan, Stylist 'Tana French's best and most intricately nuanced novel yet. . . Get ready for the whiplash brought on by its final twists and turns' The New York Times 'This mystery about family, memory and the cracks in both will haunt you for a long, long time' Erin Kelly
