Jenni Clark is a ghostwriter. She loves to immerse herself in other people's stories—a respite from her own life and from a relationship that appears to be nearing its end. Jenni's latest assignment takes her to a coastal hamlet in England, where she has agreed to pen the memoir of an elderly farm owner named Klara. Jenni assumes the project will be easy: a quiet, ordinary tale of a life well lived.


But Klara's story is far from quiet. She recounts the tale of a family torn apart by World War II and of disgraceful acts committed against a community in the Japanese prison camps on the Pacific island paradise of Java. As harrowing details emerge and stunning truths come to light, Jenni is compelled to confront a secret she's spent a lifetime burying.


Weaving together the lives of two very different women, Isabel Wolff has created a captivating novel of love, loss, and hope that reaches across generations.