Mapping the Edge: A Novel

People go missing every day. They walk out of their front doors and out of their lives into the silence of cold statistics. For those left behind it is the cruelest of long good-byes.

Anna, a self-sufficient and reliable single mother, packs her bags one day for a short vacation to Italy. She leaves her beloved six-year-old daughter, Lily, at home in London with good friends. But when Anna doesn't return, everyone begins to make excuses until the likelihood that she might not come back becomes chillingly clear. And the people who thought they knew Anna best realize they don't know her at all. How could she leave her daughter? Why doesn't she call? Is she enjoying a romantic tryst with a secret lover? Or has she been abducted or even killed by a disturbed stranger?

Did that person you loved so much and thought you knew so well did they simply choose to go and not come back? Or did someone do the choosing for them?

Dunant, a masterly British suspense writer, skillfully interweaves parallel narratives that are stretched taut with tension even as they raise difficult questions about motherhood, friendship, and accountability. In this compelling hybrid of sophisticated crime writing and modern women's fiction, Dunant challenges and unnerves us as she redefines the boundaries of the psychological thriller.

Anna, a self-sufficient, thirtysomething, single mother, heads for Italy for a short vacation, possibly with a new lover, leaving her beloved young daughter behind with friends, but when Anna does not return from her holiday, a heated and chilling debate erupts over reasons for her disappearance. By the author of Transgressions. 30,000 first printing.

"Anna, a self-sufficient and reliable single mother, packs her bags one day for a short vacation to Italy. She leaves her beloved six-year-old daughter, Lily, at home in London with good friends. But when Anna doesn't return, everyone begins to make excuses until the likelihood that she might not come back becomes chillingly clear. And the people who thought they knew Anna best realize they don't know her at all." — Jacket.

Sarah Dunant is the author of six books, most recently Transgressions. As a journalist and critic, she has worked extensively in print, radio, and television, where for many years she hosted her own show on BBC2. Dunant lives in London with her family