Publisher's Synopsis
In 1946, Evelyn Dunmore returns alone to the bombed ruins of her family's countryside estate, a place steeped in silence and soot. Her husband, Captain Arthur Dunmore, is long gone-claimed by war and memory. But when she discovers scorched fragments of intimate letters in the hearth, signed only "M," her search for closure spirals into something far more unraveling.
Who was M? Why were the letters hidden? And why do the words feel disturbingly familiar?
As Evelyn follows the ash trail through neighboring towns and distant corners of her own recollection, she begins to question the boundaries between grief, truth, and the self she thought she'd left behind. Each page uncovered sharpens the shadows of her marriage-and of her past.
But some truths refuse to stay buried. Some voices speak louder when silenced.
What if the betrayal wasn't someone else's?
What if the person she's been chasing... was her all along?
