A scandal shakes the town of Aurora on the East Coast of the USA: 33 years after the enchanting Nola vanished without a trace, she reappears. As a skeleton in the garden of her former lover. This sophisticated, allusive novel reads like a thriller but is so much more.

It’s the lead story on every news broadcast. A body has been discovered in the garden of the highly respected writer Harry Quebert. And in a leather bag right next to it: the original manuscript of the novel that made him famous. When it turns out that the body belongs to the mortal remains of Nola, who disappeared 33 years ago, and Quebert admits to having had an affair with her, the scandal is complete. Quebert is arrested and charged with murder. The only one who still stands by him is his former student and friend Marcus Goldman, now a successful writer in his own right. Convinced of his mentor's innocence—and in search of inspiration for his next novel—Goldman travels to Aurora and begins to investigate the Nola case on his own.