*THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*''A spellbinding debut about friendship, motherhood, first love, and the choices that bind us'' CARLEY FORTUNE''Addictive, nostalgic and comforting, this layered family mystery crept round my heart'' CLAIRE DAVERLEYPen and Alice, childhood best friends from Toronto, are in their first year at the University of Edinburgh. Each has come to the city for her own reasons.Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she''ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father''s - now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox - lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lennox''s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents'' secret, just as she''s falling in love for the first time . . .Meanwhile Alice, an aspiring actor, sees university as her route to the West End and beyond. The star of this year''s theatre production, she''s making the most of the power she wields as an object of desire - until an affair with her tutor begins to slip from her control. Witty, warm and wildly unputdownable, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus is at once a love story and an irresistible mystery, a celebration of female friendship, and a study of how looking back can help us move forward.''A book to lose yourself in'' FRAN LITTLEWOOD''Brimming with heart'' JENNY JACKSON''Luminous . . . as smart as it is delicious, as nostalgic as it feels fresh'' ASHLEY AUDRAIN''Joyous, clever, and wholly transportive'' KATY HAYS''Emma Knight''s witty, wistful debut will keep you up all night'' JOANNA RAKOFF