An Absolute Deception - Lesley Lokko

Known as 'The Ice Queen', Anneliese Zander de St Phalle is one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers. With an empire that stretches across continents, she's a truly global brand, in every sense. Yet despite her success, she's a mystery; a reclusive disciplined perfectionist who rarely grants interviews.
She's successful and she's talented, and that's all anyone needs to know.

Anneliese never talks about her past - not even to her only daughter, Callan. She's worked hard to leave it all behind her and it's a time and place to which Anneliese will never return. Or so she thinks.

Until, at an exclusive New Year's Eve party at her glamorous island hideaway, a woman appears whom Anneliese has done her best to forget. On the cusp of her retirement, at the height of Anneliese' fame, the stranger brings a story that demands to be told. To Anneliese' horror, the past cannot be left behind; it is here, part and parcel of the present, despite everything she's done to forget it ...