Kriminální thriller, jehož hlavní hrdinkou je třicetiletá osamělá Helen Clarvoeová, která se domnívá, že na ní zaútočila její bývalá přítelkyně Evelyn Merricková. Obrací se o pomoc k právníkovi, který se znal s jejím otcem, a žádá jej, aby ženu vypátral, a hra na kočku a myš může začít.
Viola je mladá, romantická dívka bez formálního vzdělání. Její ochránkyně, teta Mici, ji poslala do světa, aby se naučila sama o sebe postarat a vydělávat si.
Passionate, erotic and haunting, this is a brilliant novel by one of Britain's most important novelists. Simon Rakes - a conservation expert - is restoring the Stone Virgin, a statue that cost the life of its creator in the 14th century. The statue is of great beauty but its past is soaked with a history of violence, sexual passion and human greed. As Simon's work continues and he meets Chiara, the enigmatic and beautiful wife of another sculptor, the past spills uncontrollably into the present.
It is the late fourteenth century, a dangerous time beset by war and plague. Nicholas Barber, a young and wayward cleric, stumbles across a group of travelling players and compounds his sins by joining them. Yet the town where they perform reveals another drama: a young woman is to be hanged for the murder of a twelve-year-old boy. What better way to increase their takings than to make a new play, to enact the murder of Thomas Wells? But as the actors rehearse, they discover that the truth about the boy's death has yet to be revealed...