A woman haunted by family denial, secrets and a shadowy figure . . .

While Alice Lidell's brother Cedric drinks himself to death, she finds herself haunted not only by his decline, but by memories that blur fact, fiction and hallucination. From their chaotic Auckland childhood to her present day life, Alice is pursued by a mysterious figure she calls the Black Monk.

As Alice tries to hold her family together, the Black Monk appears in various guises- a stranger met in a cemetery, a face on television, a character surfacing in her own writing.

Part psychological thriller, part family saga, this is a daring novel that examines the themes of the moment- shame, addiction, truth and the stories we tell to survive.