Four families, the Crossans, the Dunsters, the Lonsdales and the Rutherfords live in a beautiful stretch of English countryside in magnificent listed houses, built for the old aristocracy. They are the new aristocracy: financiers, business tycoons, lawyers, doctors, magistrates. They leave their rural idyll only to commute first-class to London for meetings, deals and theatre outings or Heathrow flights to winter sun or half-term skiing. They and their children are protected by investments, pensions and expensive security systems. But the money is running out in Britain and new divisions and connections develop between the group of friends, until, finally, deep in the English winter, an unthinkable act of violence destroys these dream lives and demonstrates that the biggest threat may come from unexpected places.

Author Biography

Mark Lawson is a novelist and cultural critic. He has published four novels including Idlewild, Going Out Live and Enough Is Enough. He is the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row and BBC Four's Mark Lawson talks to... series. He also writes for the Guardian.