The Legacy — Kristen Tranter

A thrilling and addictive novel about three unlikely friends and the web of lies that unravels after one of them goes missing.At the center of The Legacy is the story of Julia Alpers, her friend Ralph, and the beautiful and wealthy Ingrid. As students in Sydney, the bond that ties this threesome together is complex--delicate and intense, shaped by intellect, and defined by desire. When Ingrid falls in love and marries the much older and very handsome Gil Grey, she decides to leave her friends and settle in New York City, where Gil is a major player in the art world. It is here that she becomes stepmother to Gil's teenage daughter, a former child prodigy, and begins her own work on rare, ancient texts called curse scrolls at Columbia University. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, she has an appointment downtown. And is never seen again. Devastated and heartsick, Ralph sends Julia to New York to investigate Ingrid's last days. What Julia discovers plunges her more deeply into Ingrid's life than she could ever imagine. As Julia grows closer to unearthing the truth about Ingrid's death, she is forced to confront her conflicted feelings about her former friend and to make a crucial decision about her own future.

Praised by international critics as an entertaining literary thriller that skillfully describes the almost pleasurable pain of love and life denied (The Australian), The Legacy is an utterly addictive and beautifully written novel that introduces a brilliant new voice in fiction.