With the Nazis bombing London on a nightly basis, many working-class families sent their children to the comparative safety of the countryside. When the Blitz ended, the families came for their kids … but no one ever came for Simon Thorn. His name appears on no list of the evacuated children. And none of his meagre belongings offer any clues to his origins.

Now an adult, newly moved to London, Simon is puzzled by an odd sense of familiarity when he walks down certain streets. He remembers his years of terrible nightmares-nightmares that would cause him to wake up screaming, terrifying his bewildered foster parents. And he resolves, once and for all, to find out where he originally came from … even as everything he uncovers suggests that, really, he doesn’t want to know.

Widely praised for his deliciously, maliciously witty mysteries, the multi-award-winning Robert Barnard takes a decidedly different tack in this fascinating novel of wartime London and the dark side of identity.

‘An engrossing tale of a man’s search for his identity and his discovery of an alarming past’ Publishers Weekly

‘There are shrewd characterisations and villains aplenty in this oddly affecting tale’ Time

‘Barnard untangles his riddle with great skill, and I suspect he is going to outwit all but a handful of readers’ New York Times