'Every act has a past. Events don't just materialise from nowhere.'

Ras, a Tamil exile in London, is awaiting trial for the theft of a Renaissance masterpiece. Searching for the truth behind her client's act, Ras's lawyer, Elizabeth Saunders, must piece together his story and that of enigmatic British writer Alex Benson. The trail she follows leads from Sri Lanka to the hills of Italy where, despite the serenity of the landscape, war's shadow looms long and large.

A vivid and moving fresco of art, love and loss from the LA Times Prize-shortlisted author of Mosquito and Brixton Beach.

'Tearne ... writes with cleareyed love for the country of her childhood and depicts its lush decay in painterly detail ... Hope, love and history collide with an unsparing force that resonates into the contemporary world' New York Times

'A finely crafted novel of art, memory and migration' The Independent