I know other readers disliked the book for it's unlikeable characters but I rather found Hatty, Martyn, and 'Agnes' realistic. I know couples like them, and au pairs like Agnieszka, and even though I suspected some of the plot twists, the final conclusion had me shocked and a little shaken (in a good way!). The device of the great-grandmother as narrator is lovely, as she provides some parallels to the main triad, ruminations on the nature of relationships, parenthood, and partnership. A very dark, twisted novel!