Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

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Seraphine was the affair baby her mother, Ruth, had with “uncle Alex”. Her twin, Danny, was the affair baby her father had with the Au Pair, Laura. Danny also had a twin from the same affair, Kiara, which went to live with “uncle Alex” under the pretense it was Ruth’s child. Laura did not have any other children and Alex had a cuckoo egg. The end.

I made a drawing to make it easier!

• Ruth had a kid with her husband, Edward and a previous child which died drowning
• Ruth has a steamy night of sex with Alex, who is like the dude in the friendzone that manages to get laid, resulting in a kid, Seraphine
• The husband, feeling horny and ignored, bangs the AuPair which results in a pregnancy (kinda hidden as she didn’t know she was pregnant until her water broke) which results in twins, born some time apart. The husband is thrilled to have a boy, grabs him and tells the AuPair he’ll see her out and goes away, leaving her in her own blood on the bathroom floor (a real prize that one). The husband was never aware there was a girl born as well.
• Uncle Alex comes to claim his daughter from the mother, as she refused to have contact with him and seeing a way out, the AuPair hands Alex her own daughter, telling him it was Ruth’s and his. She knew that Alex would do anything to give her a good upbringing
• The mother unfortunately jumps off a cliff.
• Laura takes the first taxi out and doesn’t tell anyone for 20 years.
• The poor dad is left to raise his own affair child, his wive’s affair child (which he thought was his) as twins. He also has their own kid as well (so three children)
• The mother-in-law suspects the deceit as her daughter only carried one child but can’t tell which one is which so she favours the boy.
• It all comes to light when Seraphine finds a happy picture of Edward, her mother and her father along with one new-born and she starts asking questions.

The book had some twists and turns and very nicely jumps between the past (1991) and the present (2023?), alternating Seraphine’s and Laura’s POVs.

What I didn’t like so much is how scummy the husband was.

And some of the developments could have been simply done with a sit-down and a talk without having to resort to all sorts of subterfuges.

Since I had the audiobook version, I had to sit through a meandering one hour and a half of reveals and I was thoroughly bored in the end. Couldn’t wait for it to end. It’s ok enough for a debut novel, but could have done better with fewer Corona references, fewer Facebook Stalk-outs and more dialogue.