Anna Hunt has lost her memory. She is certain of one thing only - that it was she who stole the painting that is now being restored in the National Gallery.

'I want to write a letter to the conservator. I have no conception of how the conservator would take it. His relationship with the painting is so entirely different to mine . . . 'Dear Sir', the letter will say. 'My name is Anna Hunt. I am the woman who stole '-Girl in the Mirror''.'

'-Girl in the Mirror' is alluring. '-Girl in the Mirror' has people in her thrall. As the summer unfolds, Anna learns about the nature of desire. Kel is violent, unpredictable and mesmerizing. The man who rescues Anna from him is helping her piece her past back together. And the conservator is returning '-Girl in the Mirror' back to her original state. By the end of the year, one of them will be dead, one of them will be in exile, and one will have done a terrible thing for love.

A wonderfully unsettling first novel that manages to combine beautiful, poetic prose with the menacing atmosphere of a thriller.