The plot twists were strong and the entire read felt like whirlwind. I can't lie, I did read in one sitting because I couldn't bare to put the book down. The emotional trauma of the protagonist, the manipulation of the accused and the deep-rooted betrayal could easily be taken out of the book and applied to so many external, real-world scenarios. I love a good historical fiction. I definitely recommend. It continued: “She’s a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her ‘the element of light in a country full of shadow zones’. She is the first lady of Syria.” Her second novel, The Birdcage Library, is out now: an adventuress discovers an old book containing clues about the disappearance of a woman who vanished 50 years before. Set between a Scottish castle in the 1930s and an exotic animal emporium in Gilded Age New York, it's a twisting Gothic tale of secrets, obsession and murder. Oh, and taxidermy. I kept the rythm, waiting for the main character to appear. And the meeting with Marija Popa was disappointing. I expected an overly sweet cover for a tyrant lady; someone knowing that gaining her lawyers to her cause, will help her to show a maternal figure, incompatible with being the monster everyone thinks she is. But seeing an arrogant person, already playing the VIP to the team that can buy her freedom, broke the magic. So, I couldn't believe Laura's observation of being almost sad for someone like Marija, that had everything and lost it all. Now I was here, on behalf of the woman whose husband had controlled it all. How much had she known? How tainted was she, and therefore how tainted was I by association?”

No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. These are private people in public roles, a personal relationship writ into statesmanship,” Berry clarifies. “I just felt like the last time I really read about a fictional dictator’s wife was probably Lady Macbeth and I thought maybe it could do with a second look.” Strange how glamour enchants us, how it makes us forget. A fur coat insists on us ignoring the abattoir.’A captivating story of women’s power, love and secrets. As timely and profound as it is unforgettable. The ending left me breathless’ LARA PRESCOTT, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept

Strange how glamour enchants us, how it makes us forget. A fur coat insists on us ignoring the abattoir". Elena Ceausescu receiving a honorary doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires in 1974. Source: Online Photo Library of Romanian Communism The mesmerised narrator wonders aloud about the impact of these women, raising issues not too detached from ones we might ask about our own, real-life dictators’ wives. Why does the media fawn over their closets and philanthropic habits? And does the fixation on the glamour help disguise the darkness of their husbands’ deeds? A visit to the grand Ceausescu Palace in Bucharest conjured ghosts of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu and what was known as a “conjugal dictatorship” before their unceremoniously swift trial and execution.

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Young lawyer Laura Lăzărescu has been assigned to a high-profile case that could make her career. Having grown up in England as the child of immigrants, she’s completely disconnected from her family’s heritage, but with the trial taking place in her parents’ homeland of Yanussia, Laura hopes she can finally find answers to the questions that have been plaguing her for years. Why did her parents flee Yanussia when she was a child? What was so terrible that it left both of them – particular Laura’s once-vibrant mother – traumatised and unable to show their only daughter love? And why did they erase every connection to their homeland, forcing Laura to feel unmoored in her own home? A captivating story of women's power, love and secrets. As timely and profound as it is unforgettable. The ending left me breathless' LARA PRESCOTT, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept A gripping, intelligent, utterly-of-the-moment thriller’EMMA STONEX, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamplighters However, Laura’s parents who fled the countries dictatorship when she was a child are adamant that she refuses the case, and this is where the story really takes off. Laura’s parents won’t tell her why they fled nor will they explain why she shouldn’t defend Marija Popa - which means Laura must accept the case and go to Yanussia to find the truth for herself.

Set in the fictional country of Yanussia, Marija Popa, wife of the dead former leader, is set to stand trial. She is accused of being complicit in her husband’s actions but declares herself to be innocent of all the charges that are piling up against her. She seeks out a defence team from England comprised of two of her fellow Yanussians. Laura has not stepped foot in her native country since she was a child; her parents never speak of their time in Yanussia and Laura is desperate to find out what happened to them, and specifically to her mother, to make their relationship so strained when she became a teenager. Is Marija telling the truth? Is she as innocent as she proclaims to be? Berry perfectly captures the role of the press and the tabloids in relation to figureheads and celebrities, and how the media can whip people up into a frenzy, regardless of whether what they print is true. A fascinating exploration of absolute power, female agency and the complexities of complicity. Atmospheric, claustrophobic and so elegantly written’ELLERY LLOYD, New York Times bestselling author of The Club Dominance in the scientific establishment within Romania was only one step on Elena's path to prestige. She routinely sought international recognition from other scientists. When the Ceausescus traveled abroad for state visits, ceremonies had to be negotiated prior to the trip in which Elena would receive honorary degrees and other rewards for her scientific work. Not a single scientist in either the West or the East ever wondered why she never participated in scientific debates. I loved the main character of Marija. She is stunning; a glamorous woman who stands out among her peers and everything about her exudes confidence. Her dark side, which comes out more and more as the story progresses, will leave the reader feeling chilled to the bone. The dynamics of Marija and Laura’s relationship and its development throughout the book are fascinating and equally disturbing. All the other characters, with the exception of Marija’s sister, fall away in comparison and are really insignificant to the story when compared to the two female protagonists.

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A gripping, intelligent, utterly-of-the-moment thriller' EMMA STONEX, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamplighters