There are periods in life when troubles fall one after another, when it seems that the whole world has turned against you and your loved ones. This is exactly what happens to Julia, the heroine of the new novel by Sam Hayes, author of the bestselling book My Stranger's Daughter. Julia was determined to divorce her husband, whom she had sincerely loved for many years. But soon the collapse of her marriage will seem like a minor nuisance to her, which is not worth paying attention to. First, a mysterious metamorphosis occurred with her mother: overnight, the always cheerful and vigorous woman turned into a frail old woman, stricken with inexplicable muteness. And a few days later, while walking the dog, Julia will discover her best student on the wasteland, mutilated and stabbed with a knife. But this is only the beginning of a deepening nightmare... And the roots of the story go back to the past, hiding a terrible secret that is impossible to describe in words. You can only remain silent about it. Otherwise, fragments of the past will tear apart the present, turning it into a ghostly fog...