I first read this book when it was published in 2006 and have just re-read it and am studying it in depth as part of a creative writing course. It has all the crucial elements that appeal to me: engaging characters, interesting settings, different time periods and a mystery at the heart of the plot. As the blurb on the cover says, 'Start reading this on the bus and, I swear, you won’t only miss your stop, you might even lose the whole day." (Cosmopolitan). The book was made into a BBC television drama in 2014. The story switches back and forth between the early 20th century and the present, told through the device of a story related by a dying author to a young biographer. Vida Winter (a nom de plume), a prolific and highly successful, but reclusive, novelist with a mysterious past that she has never divulged to any journalist, invites Margaret Lea to her remote home on the Yorkshire moors. Ms. Winter wishes to finally reveal to a trusted source the truth of her background. The themes of twins, loss and withheld parental love as well as mental illness, dysfunctional families and the crumbling of the British country estates, run strongly through this tale of mystery and suspense which ends with a twist in the tail. Highly recommended reading!