Fuller, Claire

When the hedonistic and glamorous couple of Peter and Cara move into the Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico, the woman living in the upper floors researching the architecture in the mansion's gardens. One day Frances accidentally finds a peephole beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, giving her access into the private lives of her new neighbors. Then, surprisingly, Cara and Peter welcome her into their lives as a friend, but as Frances gets to know the couple it becomes clear that something is off between them, and things spiral out of control leading to a terrible crime that will sear their lives forever.

A wife writes letters to her husband about the truth of her marriage and hides them in the thousands of book she has collected over the years, but when she disappears off a beach in Dorset, England, clues to what really happened are found in her writings.

"Peggy Hillcoat is eight years old when her survivalist father, James, takes her from their home in London to a remote hut in the woods and tells her that the rest of the world has been destroyed. Deep in the wilderness, Peggy and James make a life for themselves. They repair the hut, bathe in water from the river, hunt and gather food in the summers and almost starve in the harsh winters. They mark their days only by the sun and the seasons. When Peggy finds a pair of boots in the forest and begins a search for their owner, she unwittingly unravels the series of events that brought her to the woods and, in doing so, discovers the strength she needs to go back to the home and mother she thought she'd lost. After Peggy's return to civilization, her mother begins to learn the truth of her escape, of what happened to James on the last night out in the woods, and of the secret that Peggy has carried with her ever since"--Provided by publisher.