Gretel, a lexicographer, spent her youth on an Oxford canal houseboat with her mother, communicating in a private language until her mother's sudden disappearance. A phone call from her estranged mother compels Gretel to revisit a past shrouded in secrecy, confronting suppressed memories of a final, haunting winter on the canals where a runaway boy joined them and a terrifying entity, the 'bonak,' seemed to stalk their lives.

Why You Should Read?

• Explores a complex and unsettling mother-daughter relationship.
• Unravels a dark mystery woven with memory, unique language, and psychological depth.
• Features an atmospheric and distinctive setting on the Oxford canals.
• Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018.