The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins

Cursed woman Beautiful socialite Tragic heiress Just who was Veronica Hawkins? When Martina Torres arrives in the glamorous and vibrant metropolis of Hong Kong, newly married to her high school sweetheart, the world seems to be her oyster. But looks can be deceiving. Adrift in a foreign city, with no job and no friends, Martina chafes in her new role as Expat Wife. But her luck changes when she meets Veronica Hawkins. Beautiful, sophisticated, and very, very rich, Veronica is the epitome of Old Hong Kong--the last surviving member of a British mercantile dynasty that built the city during its colonial heyday. Martina can hardly believe her fortune when she‘s taken under Veronica‘s confidence, with Veronica helping her to find a new apartment, a new career, and most importantly, a new self. Veronica transforms Martina‘s life and then, shockingly, she dies. She disappears over the side of a yacht during a party attended by Hong Kong‘s most influential people -- yet somehow there are no witnesses. Was it murder? Suicide? A terrible accident? What really happened to Veronica Hawkins? ‘This whirlwind of a novel presents a glittering façade and then shatters it‘ The Times