The Cellar

Chilling psychological suspense with “exceptional punch” from the Edgar Award–winning author of The Dark Room ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review).

It seems like a respectable British home, occupied by the Songolis, an upstanding family of African immigrants. But hidden within the cellar is Muna—a teenage girl who cooks for them, cleans for them, endures brutal abuse from them . . . and is powerless to escape.

Then one day, the Songolis’ ten-year-old son fails to come home from school, and Scotland Yard arrives at the house to investigate. While they look into the boy’s disappearance, Muna must play the role of beloved daughter. She suddenly has a real bedroom, with sunlight, and real clothing to wear. But she must continue to keep quiet—and hide the fact that she has learned how to speak English. Even as the police are watching, her secret life of enslavement goes on.

But Muna is hatching a plan—and her acts of rebellion and revenge will be more terrifying than this family could have imagined—in this dark, twisting tale that represents “contemporary crime writing at its absolute peak” (Val McDermid).