"Four women, four secrets, one promise"--Cover.

In a small New Zealand town, four women find their lives linked by a secret that could bring about their undoing...or set them free. Serena Freeman, a once-promising high school student, has started to retreat from life and one night does not return home. Her sister, Lynnie Freeman, is carving out a successful career and is desperate to distance herself from her troubled past. But on hearing of Serena's disappearance, Lynnie returns to the town of Alexandra to look for her. The only link to Serena's disappearance is Ilse Klein, a quiet English teacher who longs for her lost childhood in Germany. She lives with her mother, Gerda Klein, beset by a devastating depression each winter and plagued by memories of Stasi Germany. The Kleins learned long ago that there is safety in silence, can they break a lifelong habit?