Sally Hepworth delves into the lives of four families living in a cul-de-sac of suburban Melbourne. Superficially, they characters are all friends, but the secrets they keep from each other poses the question, do we ever really know our neighbours, or even our own family?

Essie has a dark memory of a terrible mistake she made while suffering from post-natal depression. Her mother lives close by, worried Essie will have another psychotic breakdown.

Ange, a real-estate agent, is continuously suspicious of her good-looking husband, who constantly attracts the attention of the young, pretty mothers he meets as a child photographer. Fran is an obsessive jogger with a secret that threatens her marriage.

When Isabelle, a single woman with no children, moves into the cul-de-sac, the other women wonder about her unusual choice of neighbourhood in suburbia. She becomes the focus of an intriguing mystery as it’s revealed that she knows information about the women that they haven’t disclosed to her. Her presence drags secrets in to the light.

Through all the characters’ mistakes, Hepworth makes them likeable and fosters our sympathy so we wish them a good ending.

This immersive tale deals with important issues all found in this little cul-de-sac – post-natal depression, baby-snatching, DNA-testing, infidelity, forgiveness and the value and risk of sharing secrets.

Reviewed by Judith Grace