"Terrific . . . Easily the most purely entertaining novel I have read so far this year" David Mills, The Sunday Times"A really excellent suspense novelist" Stephen KingThe second volume of Pierre Lemaitre''s enthralling, award-winning between-the-wars trilogyIn 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel PéricourtHis daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine''s seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Péricourt mansion on the day of his grandfather''s funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months.Using all her reserves of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a burning desire for retribution, Madeleine sets about rebuilding her lifeShe will be helped by an ex-Communist fixer, a Polish