"A captivating narration by author Anna Downes adds that extra spark to her neo-gothic novel...Downes knows her characters and delivers them with professional expertise, original plotting, and a masterful performance." (AudioFile Magazine) 

Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downes's debut, The Safe Place, is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.

Welcome to paradise...will you ever be able to leave? 

Emily is a mess.

Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day. 

Emily is desperate.

Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily. 

Emily is perfect.

Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.

A Macmillan Audio from Minotaur Books 

"Richly evocative with a dark, atmospheric heart, The Safe Place is seductive, irresistible and suspenseful. I was completely gripped from the first page to the pulse-pounding end.... It's the perfect summer suspense." (Christina McDonald, USA Today best-selling author)

“The Safe Place is a dark and wonderful debut that lulls you in with beautiful prose and complex, believable characters, then beats you over the head with a killer plot and a thrilling climax. It’s the kind of book you race through as quickly as you can so you can start it again." (Christian White, internationally best-selling author of The Nowhere Child and The Wife and the Widow)

“The tension ratchets up and up in this beautifully paced thriller - an outstanding debut, populated by complex and sympathetic characters. You’ll be thinking about them long after you’ve finished reading. Destined to be a book club favorite.” (Chris Hammer, international best-selling author of Scrublands)