In Alex Fielding’s novel, the heroine wants to learn more about the past of her mother, but her mother carefully hides it: all that is known is that she grew up in a small town on the island of Crete and, as a young woman, moved to London. During a trip to Crete, Alex comes to the village of Plaka, where a friend of her mother’s relatives still lives. The village is nothing special—just one of the many settlements scattered across Greek lands. Mountains, the blue of the sea, and through that blue you can see a small island that shly hides its pain. What role did that island play in the lives of her ancestors, and what secrets does an outwardly prosperous life conceal?