From ordinary housewife to Canoe Widow, Panama and prison.

After years of remaining silent, Anne Darwin finally reveals the truth behind the crime that tore her family apart.

When Anne Darwin told the world and her family that her husband, John, had disappeared while canoeing in the North Sea, her life changed forever.

She had just lied to the police, the press, her friends and neighbours, insurance companies and her own sons.

While her husband hid in a bedsit in their rental house next door, Anne had to face the music. She claimed the life insurance payouts, endured the police questioning, accepted the consolations and left the country she loved to start her life again.

But why, when she had been perfectly happy with her lifestyle, knowing her actions would hurt those she held most dear, did she do it?

Now, for the first time, Anne opens up about an extraordinary chain of events: how she became involved in her husband's hare-brained scheme, her life and marriage, her harrowing time behind bars, and the runaway train of deceit and guilt that followed her plan to defraud insurance companies with the aid of a canoe.

Anne Darwin has done much to repair her relationship with her two sons, and is now a big part of their lives, and the lives of her four grandchildren. She works for an animal charity and lives alone in York. Her co-author is David Leigh, an award-winning journalist, who developed a remarkable relationship with Anne after uncovering her crime in Panama. He won the London Press Club's Scoop Of The Year Award and the National Association of Press Agencies news story of the year for his reporting on John Darwin Canoe Man.