Published 5th March 2026 by Pan Macmillan.
From the cover of the book:
YOUR SECRETS AREN'T SAFE.
Ten years ago, Hope left Somerset with a fatal secret and a broken heart. She has spent a decade in the shadows, living a quiet life of penance to protect the man she once loved - the world-famous author Ambrose Glencourt.
YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN.
Then, she opens his latest bestseller. To the world, it’s a brilliant work of fiction. To Hope, it’s a betrayal. Every private moment, every dark truth, and every ‘fatal disaster’ from that summer is laid bare on the page.
YOUR TRUTH IS A LIE.
But Ambrose has changed the ending. In his version of the story, Hope isn't the victim. She’s the villain.
Now, Hope must step out of the shadows to reclaim her narrative. But in a world of glamorous elites and whispered secrets, who will believe the word of an unreliable woman against the word of a literary icon?
Two narrators. One truth. And a secret worth killing for.
***********
Ten years ago, Hope spent a fateful summer working for famous author Ambrose (Rosie) Glencourt, as he was writing his bestseller The Ruined Girl. It was both the best and worst time of her life. Since then, she has been living an isolated life to protect him from the secret of how that summer ended in tragedy.
Rosie has now let it be known that he is writing a sequel, and this brings a host of memories rushing back for Hope. She has never read The Ruined Girl, but decides the time is nigh to pick it up. What she discovers sends her reeling. The Ruined Girl is obviously based on Hope's life, and the secrets she has been keeping are here for all to see.
It is time for Hope to step out of the shadows and reclaim her own story...
The novel begins with Hope discovering that Rosie betrayed her by laying bare a twisted version of the events of that summer as the plot for The Ruined Girl - the book he was struggling to write in 2016. Through the pages of the journal Hope kept when she worked with Rosie, she takes us back in time to that heady summer, when she was overwhelmed by the stark difference in her own life and the bohemian existence of Rosie and his artist wife Delia.
Seduced by the ease. elegance, and shabby chic charm of their country estate Shadowlands, Hope becomes immersed in the glamour of their lives, falling for their sort-of-adopted son Tom. Negotiating an emotional minefield she has no idea how to traverse, desperate to fit in, and caught between simmering feelings for Tom, Rosie and Delia, the long-hot summer takes a dangerous turn (loved the metaphoric presence of the hornets nest in the cupboard). All Hope's dreams come crashing down in a moment of violence that she feels she must carry the guilt for.
As Hope's version of events ends, the sumptuous literary style morphs into an intriguing mix of psychological thriller and police procedural in the present. Typical of Araminta Hall, she now turns everything on its head. In order for Hope to reclaim her life she must attempt to prove her version of events is the truth, but battling against the prestige of the now lauded author and his wife is far from easy... and the full meaning of the title ' Unreliable Narrator' comes into its own!
The twists and turns come thick and fast in this second part of the book, and although not all the elements work as slickly as they could (the domestic abuse side-plot sits clumsily amongst all the other cleverly wielded threads) the direction the story takes here is edge-of-your-seat exciting.
Then, to top it all, Hall tugs on the meaty feminist themes to tie up the novel in the most glorious of endings, subverting the premise into one which will have you punching the air with glee. Absolute genius!
Packed with lovely themes about control, abuse, passion, dysfunction, and reclaiming your own narrative this is just as thought-provoking and addictive as I hoped it would be. For me, the best bits lie in the stonking literary delights of the coming-of-age first part of the book (more please Araminta Hall), but the whole thing is a delicious concoction. I swallowed it whole!
Unreliable Narrator is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Araminta Hall is a journalist and teacher. She is the author of five previous novels, including her first novel, Everything and Nothing, which was published in 2011 and became a Richard and Judy read that year. She is the great niece of Dodie Smith and the great granddaughter of Lawrence Beesley, who survived the Titanic and wrote a bestselling account of the tragedy in the book, The Loss of the SS Titanic.
She teaches creative writing at New Writing South Brighton, where she lives with her husband and three children.
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