The Belladonna Maze: The most gripping and haunting novel you’ll read in 2023

From bestselling crime novelist and renowned Irish TV journalist Sinéad Crowley, gripping dual timelines entwine in this heart-stopping story of old secrets and forbidden passion. An old house can hold many secrets. Hollowpark in the west of Ireland certainly does. At the heart of the gardens is an intricate maze, named after a deadly poison, Belladonna. If you know the way through, it’s magical, a hiding place and playground like no other. If you don’t, it’s a place of fear and sinister riddles, where a young girl once went missing and was never seen again.Grace comes to Hollowpark as a nanny for young Skye FitzMahon. Soon the mysterious past of Hollowpark has seduced her. Who is the woman she sometimes glimpses in an upstairs window? Or the apparition who keeps showing up unexpectedly, pleading, ‘Find me’. And how can she fight her growing attraction to Skye’s father?Praise for Sinéad Crowley: ‘The Belladonna Maze is spine tinglingly magnificent! Hugely atmospheric and completely engrossing it pulls you in and holds you captive until the very last word. Utterly unputdownable!’ Steph Broadribb ‘Beautifully written, and deftly plotted… So compelling that the pages almost turned themselves. A terrific novel’ Liz Nugent ‘Compelling, clever and deeply romantic, the plot has more twists and turns than the maze itself… A welcome return to fiction by one of Ireland’s most accomplished crime writers… A joy to read’ Jane Casey ‘Prepare to lose yourself in The Belladonna Maze, a sweeping saga that embraces mystery, history and romance. If you’re still missing Maeve Binchy, this one’s for you’ Erin Kelly ‘Atmospheric, creepy, utterly engrossing and as twisty-turny as the maze itself’ Tammy Cohen