Adam and Amelia Wright win a weekend retreat to a remote, converted chapel in the Scottish Highlands, hoping the trip will salvage their failing ten-year marriage. Adam lives with face blindness, a neurological condition that prevents him from recognizing anyone, including his wife. As a snowstorm traps them inside the freezing building, the narrative shifts between their perspectives and a series of anniversary letters written by Amelia over the past decade. These letters reveal long-held secrets, lies, and the reality that one spouse is not telling the truth about how they won the trip.
This psychological thriller serves readers who enjoy domestic suspense built on unreliable narration and structural twists. Fans of the genre read this for the atmospheric isolation and the technical puzzle of figuring out which character is manipulating the other. You walk away with a dark portrait of how a marriage can be dismantled by resentment and a specific understanding of how prosopagnosia affects a person’s perception of trust and identity.
Insights from Rock Paper Scissors
“I don’t always recognize the woman I love.”
Adam can't recognize his own wife in a crowd because of his face blindness. It makes every look they share feel like a gamble.
“A chapel is a place for truth.”
Living in a converted church during a snowstorm feels like being trapped in a confession booth. The walls seem to hold every lie they ever told each other.
“My husband doesn’t know who I am.”
Ten years of marriage can turn into a game of keeping score. Every anniversary letter Amelia writes feels like a new piece of evidence.
Robin lives in the shadows of their old life like a ghost. She knows the layout of their home better than they do.
- Published
- 2021
- Publisher
- Flatiron Books
- ISBN
- 9781250851109
- Language
- EN
