“The Au Pair” by Emma Rous

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰

While mourning the recent death of their father, twins Seraphine and Danny Mayes discover a photo of the day of their birth showing their smiling parents and only one baby. Hours later their mother commits suicide by jumping from the cliffs behind Summerbourne, their beautiful seaside home. Where was the other baby? Why did their mother commit suicide when she looked so happy in the photo and why are there so many strange rumors about twins born at Summerbourne? All of the answers are unfurled in the alternating voices of Seraphine in 2017 and Laura, the au pair, in 1991.

I enjoyed reading this well-paced novel and found myself trying to puzzle out how the story might end in between reading binges. I had a bit of a hard time keeping track of the peripheral characters, especially between the two time lines and found the ending to be a bit implausible but otherwise thought it was a good read.