The last goodbye

A mystery story orchestrated by picturesque characters and set between the thirties and the present day. An absorbing novel, as only Kate Morton, author of The Forgotten Garden, knows how to write.

All families have secrets.
And, for some, it only takes one event to change everything.

A missing child...

June 1933: at Loanneth, the country estate of the Edevane family, everything is clean and sparkling, ready for the eagerly awaited summer solstice party. Sixteen-year-old Alice Edevane, an aspiring writer, is especially excited. Not only has she found the perfect plot twist for her novel, but she has also fallen madly in love with someone she shouldn't. But by the time midnight arrives and fireworks light up the summer sky, the Edevane family will have suffered such a great loss that they will have to abandon Loanneth forever...

An abandoned house.

Seventy years later: after a particularly complicated case, Sadie Sparrow, an investigator at Scotland Yard, is on forced leave from her job. Taking refuge in her grandfather's house in Cornwall, she soon finds that being idle is difficult for her. Until one day she stumbles upon an old abandoned house surrounded by wild gardens and thick forests and discovers the story of a little boy who disappeared without a trace...

An unsolved mystery.

Meanwhile, in the attic of an elegant house in Hampstead, the formidable Alice Edevane, now elderly, leads a life as carefully planned as the detective novels she writes. Until a young detective begins asking questions about her family's past in an attempt to unearth the intricate tangle of secrets that Alice has spent her entire life trying to escape.

Critics have said...
«Bestselling author Kate Morton excels once again with this mystery novel with 1930s England as a suggestive backdrop. The plot is impeccable and the characters, skillfully crafted and brought together at the end of the book as a result of Sparrow's investigation, are as surprised as the readers by the unexpected outcome.»
Publishers Weekly

«Morton is the best at creating absorbing mysteries.»
People

«Morton masterfully writes novels with an old-world feel and full of atmosphere, with enough plots to fill the attic of Milderhurst Castle.»
Bookpage