This is a carefully plotted novel and reading it is rather like peeling an onion or maybe an artichoke. As each layer is revealed, the object becomes more interesting, until the reader finally gets to the heart of the matter.

The whole action starts because of an autobiographical fragment, the subse quent revelations related to that fragment, and the discovery of a lost manuscript by the wife of a well-known modernist author. Kate, who is clearly looking for a new adventure at the opening of the novel, is intrigued by the request to write a biography of Gabrielle Foxx. She is definitely hooked by the time she reads an autobiographical fragment written by a Anne, a friend of the family. Kate is then reeled in by the three women who convince her to edit the "missing" manuscript and leave out the facts of the life of the author...