Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . .

It's the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor.

While the Haney's neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family's 'help', who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes' starched curtains than anyone, and it isn't long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole 'perfect' world to set alight . . .

A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

Dies ist ein besonderer Buchtipp! Wie sicher einige wissen reise ich in normalen Jahren am 3. Februar Wochenende nach London um meine Freundin zu besuchen. Inga und ich sind seit ihrem Schulpraktikum als KGB-Schülerin bei mir befreundet. Und nun ist Ihr erstes Buch erschienen. Ich gratuliere und bin unfassbar stolz.
Für alle die es lieber in Deutsch lesen möchten, am 21.04.2021 erscheint es unter dem Titel "In Aufruhr" bei Kindler.

Autorin: Inga Vesper