A bold, brilliant, and beautiful novel, unflinching in its gaze, which holds the reader in its tense grip from start to unforgettable finish. Recently married, psychologist Bea and Dan, a mixed-race artist, rent out their tiny flat to escape London for a few precious months. Driving through France they visit Bea's dropout brother Alex at the hotel he runs in Burgundy. Disturbingly, they find him all alone and the ramshackle hotel deserted, apart from the nest of snakes in the attic. When Alex and Bea's parents make a surprise visit, Dan can't understand why Bea is so appalled, or why she's never wanted him to know them. Tragedy strikes suddenly, brutally, and in its aftermath the family is stripped back to its heart, and then its rotten core.