In this astonishing debut, the venerable but gossipy New York literary scene is twisted into a claustrophobic fun house of paranoia, horror and wickedly dark humour. George March's latest novel is a smash. No one is prouder than Mrs. March, his doting wife. But one morning, the shopkeeper of her favourite patisserie suggests that his protagonist is based on Mrs. March herself: "?'But ... -isn't she ...' Mrs. March leaned in and in almost a whisper said, 'a whore?'?" Clutching her ostrich-leather pocketbook, she flees, that one casual remark destroying her belief that she knew everything about her husband-as well as herself. Suddenly, Mrs. March is hurled into a harrowing journey that builds to near psychosis, one that begins merely within the pages of a book but may uncover both a killer and the long-buried secrets of her past.