This book is being told from the perspective of two best friends, Holly and Jules. The two met when they were at university, and they have been close since.
Holly moved from London to a village in the Pens two years ago, shortly after she lost her husband, Archie. Her sixteen-year-old son, Saul, still struggles, and she has no friends and the children in his school despise him. Now Holly is married to Pete, who has two daughters from a previous marriage, Freya, who is thirteen, and Thea, who is ten. Life is good for Holly except for her worry about Saul.
Jules is married and has a daughter, thirteen-year-old Saffie. She and her husband Rowan are quite well off, and are the ideal hosts in the village. Jules had problems to get pregnant, and Holly was there for her whenever she had a miscarriage.
One day Holly and Jules go out for a drink with friends. Saul complains that the internet connection is iffy, and Jules agrees to let him stay in her house to use the Internet. Saffie is there too but in her room. When the two women return, it is almost one, and Holly and Saul return to work.ç
Two weeks later Jules goes to find Holly as there is something serious she needs to tell her. Saffie has told her that the night she and Saul were left alone, he came into her room and raped her. the girl doesn't want her mother to tell anybody, and she was not going to tell her but she is late and she fears she might pregnant. Holly can't believe that her son could do something like that, and she calls Saffie a troublemaker. What Jules wanted was to sort out things with Saul, but Holly refuses flatly. The two girls fight, and this is the point where their friendship breaks.
Holly, who has always been involved in defending women who have been pregnant, is now questioning what her goddaughter is saying. When she asks Saul about that night without telling him what Saffie says, he claims that he didn't see Saffie, and he was upstairs because he had lain down to sleep. When Holly tells her husband, he supports her but Holly feels that he leaves some leeway for doubt. Then when his daughters come to stay that night, they go away the next day to see their grandfather, and I wonder if Pete took him away from Saul on purpose.
Jules believes her daughter blindly, and despite promising not to tell her husband, who tends to have a quick temper and rage issues, she finally tells him. He reacts angrily, saying that he will beat up Saul, and he wants them to go to the police and the school.
So who is telling the truth? Saul or Saffie? If Saffie is lying, why? We know that she doesn't like Saul, so maybe that is her way to take Saul of her life. And Saul? Could he have attacked Effie even if his mother's very public fight is defending vulnerable women who have been raped.
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