In Venice, Frances Croy is working to leave the previous year behind: another novel published to little success, a scathing review she can’t quite manage to forget, and, most of all, the real reason behind her self-imposed exile from London - the incident at the Savoy.
Retreating to an ageing palazzo, Frankie finds comfort in the emptiness of Venice in winter, in the absence of others. Desperate to rediscover the success of her first novel, the one by which all her other work has been judged, she attempts to return to the page - ignoring the strained relationship with her best friend, the urgent phone calls from her editor and the growing fear that the end of her career is imminent.
Then Gilly appears. A precocious young admirer eager to befriend her favourite author, Gilly seems determined to insinuate herself into Frankie’s solitary life. But there’s something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause, that makes her wonder just how much of what Gilly tells her is the truth. Set against the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice, the encounters between these two women will lead to a series of lies and revelations that will tragically disrupt both of their lives.
