---

´Opens Vanessa Ronan´s literary career the way dynamite opens a safe ... beautiful and invigoratingly shocking´ Joseph O´Connor, Irish Times

Mid-July in Texas. Cicadas shed their dry summer skins, the scent of roses hangs heavy in the still air, and a woman sits alone on her porch at dusk, watching the empty, merciless prairie, its light falling to darkness. He´s coming home.

Upstairs, Lizzie knows, her daughters are safe in their beds. Joanne, still young enough to smile at strangers, one last summer of childhood left in her. Katie, already a beauty, the first flush of womanhood blooming on her skin. Both sleeping soundly. But out beyond the boundary of their land, the townspeople sleep fitfully. Too many have heard that Jasper is coming back - folk who know him of old, who remember what he did - men who will make it their business to see he doesn´t stay too long round these parts ...

´Vivid storytelling. ... makes your fingers tremble when you turn the pages. The terror and the pity of it will stay with you for a long time´Sunday Times

´A powerful, formidable debut. Vanessa Ronan is a natural storyteller and what a gripping, dark, compelling story this is´ Donal Ryan

´Written with poetry and vision. With a blistering ending that leaves you racing to its conclusion ...´ Stylist

´Shades of In Cold Blood and Truman Capote, shades of Harper Lee ... there´s constant mystery hovering over every turn of the page´ Ryan Tubridy, RTE

´Each word is weighted with dread and laden with drama ... impressive´ Sunday Independent

---

A novel of vengeance. Texas under a merciless sun. A criminal comes home. Can his neighbours forget what he did? Can his sister forgive it? Can her daughters survive the hatred? From the Publisher´s Description

---

Ronan, Vanessa
Vanessa Ronan was born in Texas and grew up between the Texas plains and the mountains of northern Mexico. She now lives in Ireland. She became a No 1 bestseller with the publication of The Last Days of Summer, her first novel.

---