'If you were eighty, and you'd spent your whole life not letting yourself love him, and he was eighty, and he'd never been turned to stone --- how much would you regret it?'

The island of Stenland is cursed: women, chosen at random, awaken with three black slashes on their forehead. The first person they meet eyes with turns to stone.

This is how Tess Eriksson's mother killed Soren Fell's parents. It was an accident, but that has never made it any easier to forgive.

Since then, all Tess has wanted is to leave Stenland. All Soren has wanted is to stay.

The only thing they want more . . . is each other.

But how can you love one person more than everything else combined? And how do you take the risk on love, if it could mean destroying the person you hold most dear?