The Shuttered Room

Getting an au-pairing job in the South of France sounds, to seventeen-year-old Alison, like the perfect way to spend four weeks of the summer holidays. And, leaving her boyfriend at home, she sets off for a summer of freedom and fun.

But St Secrets turns out to be a long way from fulfilling her dreams.

Stuck with a bunch of old people in a dull-as-ditchwater village in the middle of nowhere, the only saving grace is gorgeous baby Effy. And then she finds the diary! The diary she cannot resist reading, gradually revealing a moving story from the past of the true and deep love felt by one woman for another. And as she reads, Alison discovers more about the mysterious secrets of the house, its people and indeed, herself.