Late one February afternoon, Lara is walking the pale, stuccoed streets of west London. She has just left a meeting with her colleague and fellow historian, Gideon – they are searching for the lost burial grounds of Kenyans who died fighting for the British in the First World War. Their work has been interrupted: unpleasant events in Kenya, involving a contested tract of land, have forced Gideon into hiding.

In just a moment, Lara will look up and see a man walking a few paces ahead of her. In his elegant grey coat and burgundy scarf, he will seem to fit these streets. Recognising him, Lara will step forward, say his name. In doing so, she will make a bargain with herself, and she will enter a new world: of self-deception, of moral accommodation. The consequences will be manifold, and Lara, her fledgling family and Gideon will all have to reckon with them.

Unsettling and deeply affecting, Inheritance is an uncommonly rich novel that asks us to examine the myths we hold close – about history, our country’s past, the people we think we know, and what we believe we understand about ourselves.