"The key for me were the characters. The four friends weren’t stereotypical, but complex, and flawed, and this made them very human, and very believable.
Set in the French countryside, which sounds wonderful, the story flicks back and forth between their school friendship. The present day reunion gradually reveals their past secrets, and how that had affected the people they were today. The author doesn’t try to rely on humour, but rather simple good story telling.
This is definitely an author that I will be looking out for again."
- Michelle Moore
When Susie decides to invite her old school friends for a reunion she tells herself that it’s just about showing off. It’s about letting Amanda, Izzy and Tamsin see how well she’s done, with her successful career as an artist, her gorgeous house in France, her deliciously louche boyfriend. But the truth is that this is a dark plan. A plan that could make or break her seemingly perfect life… and she knows it.
As the old friends gather at Susie’s for a long weekend of catching up and comparisons, it is clear that, despite their lives having taken very different turns, they are all still haunted by a dark and common past. They know that up till now they have been treading water – waiting for the inevitable moment when they have to face the truth. The question is, now that the time has come, who will sink and who will swim?
Discussion questions:
- How genuine do you feel the relationship between Susie and Roman is? Do you feel they are more in love with the idea of each other than the reality? How happy do you feel Susie really is?
- Alcohol plays a large part in the novel, in terms of Tamsin’s mother dying and Amanda’s problems. Does the author show alcohol to have any positive side-effects?
- Do you think it would have worked out if Amanda and Roman had left their respective partners to be together? Or are they trying to escape something else when they embark on their drinking spree?
- What part do the children play in the novel? For example, how necessary to the plot is the episode where Freya and Jake get lost in the field?
- Are you sympathetic to Amanda’s drinking and general behaviour towards her husband, or do you find her to be self-centred and spoilt? How difficult is the situation she’s in?
- What does the novel tell us about how much people change between their schooldays and adulthood? Which of the characters do you feel has undergone the biggest transformation?
- Do you think that Amanda and Susie have any idea of the implications that their actions will have when they spike Tasmin’s mother’s drink?
- What do you make of the relationship or lack of relationship between Sarah Saunders and Neil Barron? How do you think this relates to the rest of the book?
- What do you think of the way in which Tamsin reacts to the revelation about the death of her mother? How would you behave in her position?
- How effective do you find the ending of the novel?
