I wish I could be more positive about this book. I know Elizabeth Buchan is a great writer, very well regarded but although I enjoy her writing I found this a hard book to get into. What drew me to the book initially was Lottie Archer's job as archivist, a job I find fascinating. Lottie has moved to Rome where her job entails looking after material relating to Nina, a woman who died unmourned back in 1978. There's no connection between the two and the book switches from each of their stories, a manner of storytelling I tend to find quite hard to get into. Swapping back and forth loses the flow, Nina's story I just wasn't interested in, Lottie's, however I found quite involving. It gelled towards the end, but there were times when I just couldn't grasp what it was about Nina's life that made Lottie try and track answers. Probably this wasn't the right Elizabeth Buchan book for me so I'll certainly try another.