The police and those working at home first are perplexed. The girl they have in custody claims that her name is Hope, so that means Annie is the dead girl. Yet, they discover that the girl who died was Hope when Danny, one of the carerrs, go to identify the body. From the moment Hope died, Annie started to act like Hope: rebellious, contrary, coarse. Annie is quite different: she is kind, easy-going and good-mannered.
From Annie's memories we get to know that Hope and Annie hit it off as soon as they met, and their relationship turned into a romance. Even though these liaisons were frowned upon at the home, the carers couldn't do much to prevent the situation.
Helen, the manager of the home, is surprised when the police tell her that Hope was pregnant, but she didn't know about it. Helen is certain that Annie has not killed Hope and is sure that the killer comes from Hope's past.
In the second part of the book, we get to know more about Hope's life from her birth. Her mother was a prostitute and a drug addict. Social services had taken a child from her before, so she was intent in having a new baby and keep it. So she weaned herself off drugs and decided to lead a decent life. Hope was not an easy baby because she cried all the time. When Hope refused to be breastfed, Bex (her mother) had to buy formula, but she had no money. So she had to return to work, that is, as a prostitute. Ace Clarke, who Helen and Annie have already thought of as Hope's killer, was her mother's pimp, or the man who had the building where Bex worked. While Bex entertained clients, Ace looked after Hope, but the baby still cried, and he wasn't very loving. The account of her childhood is told through Hope's account to Annie when they told each other about their past lives. Hope thought that Ace put up with her because he thought that when she grew up, she would become one of her women.
The novel grabs your attention from the first, but it is uncomfortable to read about not just Hope and Annie but also Lara, the girl who doesn't speak because her father killed her mother and brother. I am really curious about what happened that night when the girls sneaked out of the home and Hope ended up dead.
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