The watch tower - Elizabeth Harrower

Set in the leafy northern suburbs of Sydney during the 1940s, The Watch Tower is a novel of relentless and acute psychological power. Following their father's death, Laura and Clare are withdrawn from their elite private boarding school by their mother. As their mother slowly withdraws from them, the two are left to fend for themselves. Laura's boss Felix is there to help, even offering to marry Laura if she will have him. However Felix is not all that he seems and little by little the two sisters grow complicit with his obsessions, his cruelty and his need to control.