The Promised World

Now from the bestselling author of The Cure for Modern Life and Once Upon a Day comes a riveting story of suspense about a literature professor whose carefully constructed life is shattered after the death of her twin brother and the unraveling of the secret world they shared.

On a March afternoon, while Lila Cole is working in her quiet office, her twin brother Billy points an unloaded rifle out of a hotel window, closing down a city block. Suicide by police was obviously Billy's intended result, but the aftermath of his death brings shock after shock for Lila when she discovers that her brilliant but troubled twin — the person she revered and was closer to than anyone in the world — was not only estranged from his wife, but also charged with endangering the life of his middle child and namesake, eight-year-old William.

As Lila struggles to figure out what was truth and what was fiction in her brother's complicated past, her job, her marriage, and even her sanity will be put at risk. And when the hidden meaning behind Billy's stories comes to light, she will have to act before Billy's children are destroyed by the same heartbreaking reality that shattered her protector and twin more than twenty years ago.

A love song to the redemptive power ofbooks and stories, The Promised World is a mesmerizing tale of intimacy, betrayal, and lost innocence that will haunt readers long after they have turned the final page.

On a March afternoon, while Lila Cole is working in her quiet office, her twin brother Billy points an unloaded rifle out of a hotel window across from an elementary school, closing down a city block. “Suicide by police” was obviously Billy’s intended result, but the aftermath of his death brings shock after shock for Lila when she discovers that her twin— the person she thought she was closer to than anyone in the world—was not only estranged from his wife, but also charged with endangering the life of his middle child and namesake, eightyear- old William. Lila’s quest for answers puts her job, her marriage, and even her sanity at risk as she begins to learn the horrible truth about her family. When Billy’s children are in danger of repeating the twins’ tragic past, all of the characters will have to confront their own complicity and recognize the deep guilt that always tortured Billy even as he spun a beautiful dream of the future from the stories he loved—a classic American myth of redemption and second chances. Compulsively readable and empathetically written in Tucker’s artful prose, The Promised World is an epic tale of intimacy, betrayal, and lost innocence that will haunt readers long after they turn the final page.