It's also dark and disturbing. It's a bit like putting a tutu on Hannibal Lecter. Set in fictional Lark Grove, South London, the story is about two sets of couples and their children.
Chapters weave from past to present and identical events are re-told from different perspectives.
The device works well most of the time, but the repetition becomes a little tedious. When Anna Cunningham moves into the Pink House with obedient husband Christopher and pudgy toddler Pandora, dowdy neighbor Jo Metcalf can't wait to make a new friend. She doesn't know it yet, but Anna makes Rebecca de Winter look like a girl-scout. Anna smothers him with affection while Pandora rots away emotionally and physically. Meanwhile soft-hearted, hausfrau Jo is plotting how to introduce herself.