Jessie Else disappeared the summer the Lambs came to Magpie Beach. Not that the two events were connected at all, in reality; only in my own head, in my own world. They marked for me the end of a certain quiet time and the start of a more complicated living. Winifred is a small town full of prejudices and assumptions. Meg and Lily are outsiders who live on its margins at Magpie Beach, where they’ve managed to keep out of each other’s - and everyone else’s - way for years. That is, until Rosemary comes along and draws them into an unlikely friendship. When nine-year-old Jessie Else goes missing, the residents of Winifred begin locking their doors, and fingers soon start pointing towards Magpie Beach. Questions threaten to undo Meg, Rosemary and Lily’s quiet existence, and the women band together to protect themselves, and to protect each other, but all three are holding secrets that are too big for them to keep on their own. It’s only a matter of time before they start to unravel-and nothing will ever be the same again.