Young history professor Charles Meredith may be researching a book about a Victorian crime of passion, but passion is something lacking in his own life. While his partner Mia is desperate for children, Charles worries that agreeing is a commitment too far. For Lotte Graham, meanwhile, her children are the main reasons her marriage has lasted so long. But when she discovers the awful truth of her husband's deceit, she decides it's time to act.
Student Claire Thompson is a loner, who fills the gaps where her friends should be with fantasy. And on the night she boasts that her professor Charles Meredith is taking her to supper, she disappears . . .
As Charles searches for the woman who can prove his innocence, as the police-hunt for Claire intensifies, as Lotte struggles for independence, help comes from a silent voice, a voice that speaks from the grave . . .
