Windmill Hill

'Brilliantly observed. I loved it' CLAIRE FULLER'Lucy Atkins, a one-of-a-kind author, has reached new heights' MICK HERRON'Compulsive and skilfully woven' CLARE CHAMBERS'An intriguing, brilliantly told story' NINA STIBBEOne night in a remote hunting lodge with a Hollywood director causes an international scandal that wrecks Astrid's glittering stage career, and her marriage. Her ex-husband, the charismatic Scottish actor Magnus Fellowes, goes on to find global fame, while Astrid retreats to a disintegrating Sussex windmill.

Now 82, she lives there still, with a troupe of dachshunds and her long-suffering friend, Mrs Baker, who came to clean twenty years ago and never left. But the past is catching up with them. There has been an 'Awful Incident' at the windmill; the women are in shock.

Then Astrid hears that Magnus, now on his death bed, is writing a tell-all memoir. Outraged, she sets off for Scotland, determined to stop him. Windmill Hill is the story of two very different women, both with painful pasts, and their eccentric friendship - deep, enduring, and loyal to the last.

PRAISE FOR LUCY ATKINS'It was an utter joy to relish Atkins's wonderfully skilled and unobtrusive writing and lose myself in the mystery' Sarah Perry'An utterly compelling read' Claire Fuller'Sly, witty and gripping . . .

I loved it' Naomi Alderman'Atkins excels at characterisation' Guardian'A sinewy, supple and gorgeously satisfying triumph' Lucy Mangan'Gripping as well as beautifully written' Polly Samson