What if our homes could tell the stories of others who lived there before us?

'Sweeping, suspenseful, rich with surprises and eerie atmosphere' Jennifer Egan

'Riveting . . . [the] stories, related in spare but evocative prose, offer fresh looks at human appetites - sex, love, money, art, culture - while exploring the ups and downs of childhood, family, friendship and aging . . . a compelling saga' Daily Mail

To those who have ventured past it over the years, this small estate in a village outside Paris has always seemed calm and poised.

But should you open the gates and enter inside, you will find rooms which have become the silent witnesses to a century of human drama: from the young American au pair who developed a crush on her brilliant employer to the ex-courtesan who shocked the servants, and the Jewish couple who hid from the Gestapo to the housewife who began an affair while renovating the rooms downstairs.

The house has kept its inhabitants secrets for a hundred years. Now, they are ready to be brought to the light. . .

'In lucid prose, the author weaves together deeply involving stories centring on the house, moving back and forth in time, through war and other human catastrophes, rendering a very real France.' Saga