A beautiful New Zealand summer. An ugly past that won't stay buried. Paediatric surgeon Claire Bowerman has reluctantly returned to Auckland from London. Calm, rational and in control, she loves delicately repairing her small patients' wounds. Tragically, wounds sometimes made by the children's own families. Yossi wants to marry Claire. He thinks they've come to the safest place on earth, worlds away from the violence he knew growing up. He revels in the glorious summer, the idyllic islands of the gulf. But Roimata, Claire's fifteen-year-old daughter, is full of questions. Why is Claire so secretive about her past? Why won't she talk to the man who could solve the mystery that dominated her childhood? All Claire wants to do is run. This is a novel about a woman caught between the past and the present. And about her need to keep everybody safe. Especially herself.