The gripping new psychological thriller from Joanne Harris, to follow her bestsellingGentlemen&PlayersandBlueeyedboy.Perfect for fans of Claire Mackintosh, BA Paris, Paula HawkinsandTracy Chevalier.

Crime novel or literary novel? Categories really dont matter; readers will find themselves comprehensively gripped.Independent 'A cracking psychological thriller'Good Housekeeping

After thirty years at St Oswalds Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go the clowns, the rebels, the underdogs, and those he calls his Brodie boys. But every so often theres a boy who doesnt fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy capable of twisting everything around him. A boy with hidden shadows inside.

With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new broom has arrived at the venerable school, bringing Powerpoint, sharp suits and even sixth form girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist this march to the future, a shadow from his past is stirring. A boy who even twenty years on haunts his teachers dreams. A boy capable of bad things.

Joanne Harrisis one of our best-loved and most versatile novelists. She first appeared on the scene with the bestsellingChocolat(made into an Oscar-nominated film with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp), which turned into the sensuous Lansquenet trilogy (withLollipop ShoesandPeaches for Monsieur le Curé). She has since written acclaimed novels in such diverse genres as fantasy based on Norse myth (Runemarks,Runelight,The Gospel of Loki), and the Malbry cycle of dark psychological thrillers (Gentlemen&Players,Blueeyedboy, and nowDifferent Class).

Born in Barnsley, of an English father and a French mother, she spent fifteen years as a teacher before (somewhat reluctantly) becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass in a band first formed when she was sixteen, works in a shed in her garden, spends far too much time online and occasionally dreams of faking her own death and going to live in Hawaii.