The Jazz Age chronicler's first great novel

No one has written more elegiacally about America than F. Scott Fitzgerald...a sense of lost time and the irretrievability of the past gave much of his work - indeed, his life - an ineradicable undertone of mourning

If Francis Scott Fitzgerald had not existed, it would have been necessary to invent him. Seldom has there been a character who personified, as well as chronicled, an age with such dexterity and verisimilitude

None was more beautiful, none more damned, than Fitzgerald himself

Excellent ... There is a compulsion and persuasive assurance in the writing

A strong, dark and original story, told by an engrossing new voice in English fiction

An exceptionally well-written, suspenseful novel ... with an unerring sense of period, place and mood

The strength of this book is its evocation of powerful sexuality and its capturing the flavour of South Africa 50 years ago.

Heath's reckless, innocent Laura, caught in the upheaval and cruelty of an unjust system that mingled bloodshed with the tennis club and the bitchy tea party, is unforgettable

Rachel Heath explores the dangers of intimacy, the secrets behind ordinary existences, the fruitlessness of the search for a home, and, ultimately, the grim inevitability of disaster. A promising debut from a startling new voice.

[A] gripping tale...

The closest thing I can compare it to is The Secret History by Donna Tart.

Rachel Heath is excellent on the atmosphere of post-war Britain and the lure of South Africa.

This author is good at sex, writing well about female sensuality.

The interweaving of the lives of Gay and Laura is skilfully handled, the plot ever-thickening as the two move towards that fatal voyage back to Britain.

Rachel Heath's dark compelling debut novel tells the tale of two very different girls; both are misfits trying to find a story in which they can star.

... examines the extraordinary lengths people will go to when driven by love.

Those who survive do dreadful things. This is the nub of their experiences and also, hints the author of our own.

A highly accomplished debut, this is a chilling portrait of racial tension, social immorality, betrayal and love, and also an atmospheric examination of the end of innocence.

The writing is strong and though the sections featuring Gay's earlier life lose momentum, the story picks up pace when the girls' paths become entwined and the conclusion is compelling and thrillingly macabre.

This fictional account of a true story gives a darkly shocking version of the events surrounding this tragic case.

Brilliantly melds a factual post-war murder into a dark fictional tale