Into the Water

by Paula Hawkins

Nel Abbott was already playing with fire—she was obsessed with the river and its secrets, and that kind of obsession never ends well.

People turned a blind eye, though, didn’t they? No one liked to think about the fact that the water in that river was infected with the blood and bile of persecuted women, unhappy women; they drank it every day.

You could say what you liked about Lena Abbott, but she was loyal; she kept her word. And perhaps now, freed from the toxic influence of her mother, she might even turn into a decent person.

This is the place that, over centuries, has claimed the lives of Libby Seeton, Mary Marsh, Anne Ward, Ginny Thomas, Lauren Slater, Katie Whittaker, and more—countless others, nameless and faceless.

You lost your daughter and I lost my mother. Doesn’t that make us even? Can’t you just forgive me now?