The Lone Child

by Anna George

‘Absolutely arresting. A story shaped by contemporary social inequalities, their chilling consequences and, above all, the powerful, life-affirming love of women for their own and other people's children.’ Zoe Morrison, author of Music and FreedomNeve Ayres has always been so careful. Since her mother’s death when Neve was seven, she’s learned to look after herself and to keep her cards close. But now her deliberately constructed world has her partner’s left her when she was eight months pregnant. And so, alone with her newborn son, she’s retreated to her cliff-top holiday house in coastal Flinders.There, another child comes into her life. The first time Neve sees Jessie, the small girl is playing on an empty stretch of beach. On the cold autumn day, she is bare-legged and alone, while her mother is distracted by her own troubles. At once, almost despite herself, Neve is intrigued and concerned, and Jessie is drawn to Neve’s kindness – and to her home. To Neve’s surprise, Jessie becomes an unlikely source of much needed care for her and her baby. Having been lost in the sleepless haze of new motherhood, Neve is touched, and finds herself grappling with how to best help the forgotten girl. She has the spacious house, the full pantry, the resources . . . But how much can you – should you – do for a stranger’s child?Beautifully written and emotionally compelling, The Lone Child is about parenting and judgement, loss and love. From the acclaimed author of What Came Before, this is a gripping, atmospheric novel that explores how the desire to mother, and to be mothered, can be overwhelmingly seductive.'Absorbing and poignant, written with tenderness and insight, The Lone Child explores the formidable bonds between mother and child.' Sara Foster, author of The Hidden Hours‘A sensitive evocation of the sometimes dark and disorienting nature of motherhood, George’s haunting tale reminds us of the redemptive power of human connection.’ Wendy James, author of The Golden Child

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Mystery

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2017

About the author

Anna George is the author of What Came Before, The Lone Child and Tipping. Anna lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heart wrenching tale of two single mothers and their children. Neve, who has a new baby boy and and Leah and her young daughter. Neve is an architect and well off but is shell shocked and sleep deprived, finding herself suddenly caring for a child on her own when her partner was the one who wanted a baby, has now returned to his childless marriage. Leah is not well off and now that husband has recently absconded leaving her homeless and managing two small children on her own. Neve comes across Leah's small daughter one day on the beach playing alone and then when her mother accidently drives off without her, Neve goes on to build a relationship with this girl she calls 'Jessie'.

The backdrop to this tale is the Mornington Peninsula in early winter and the setting plays an important part in the story as the author evocatively describes it's mood and appearance throughout the book. Both women's viewpoints are given throughout the book as Leah hunts for 'Jessie' and Neve struggles to care for her baby. It's a very emotional and beautiful story, highlighting the ups and downs of motherhood and the bond that mothers form with their children.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
In 2014, novelist Anna George released her debut, What Came Before, a crime based psychological thriller. What Came Before was a literary success, unfortunately it is also novel I am yet to read, but I hope to do so soon. The Lone Child is an atmospheric and psychological based novel. Motherhood is put on the spotlight by novelist Anna George. The Lone Child is a book that kept me engaged and guessing. I was keen to get back to it every time I put it down. I had a job trying to decide if one of the central characters was to be believed or discounted at many points of the novel. There is a great twist included near the close of this novel and the fallout for the characters was interesting to read. However, what I came away feeling most about this novel was the sense of vulnerability and sorrow that follows the characters of this novel. The Lone Child is an emotive page turning novel that I recommend to readers of psychological suspense novels.

[Brooke - Brooke's Reading Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

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The Lone Child by Anna George. (2017).

Neve has looked after herself carefully since she was 7 and her mum died. But everything collapsed when her partner left her when she was 8 months pregnant and now she is alone with her newborn son in her cliff-top holiday house.
Then Neve meets Jessie: a small girl alone on the beach. Neve is intrigued and concerned, while Jessie is drawn to Neve's kindness. Neve finds herself considering how to best help that forgotten Jessie... But how far can you, and should you, go for a stranger's child?

I have mixed feelings about this book. I wasn't really sure what to think at the end; the ending felt like it made the whole story ambiguous as well as the ending itself. Neve was a curious character - I found her both interesting and strange. I think the author did an amazing job of portraying what it may feel like to be a single woman alone with a newborn with zero help. It was also good to be able to read chapters from Jessie's mother's point of view; to me there was an important message from this novel that one shouldn't judge others based on first impressions as we don't know what's actually going on in a stranger's life. To sum it up, I'd probably like to re read this one day to pin down my feelings on it because I enjoyed the story and it was written well, but the overall ambiguity was a negative for me.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

39 year old architect, Neve Ayres is struggling to come to terms with lack of sleep and being a single mother. With her young son, Cliff, she has moved to her holiday house in coastal Flinders. And then another child comes into her life. Tayla is the child of young single mother, Leah, who also has another younger child. Leah is a long way away from the social or financial realm of Neve. Leah is so focused on her own issues and trying to cope, that one day she drives off leaving Tayla behind. That’s when Neve becomes involved. Neve gives the abandoned child the name of Jessie.
I wasn’t convinced about this novel initially, as I was having a little trouble relating to the well to do Neve. But soon this quietly compelling book drew me in and absorbed me. Towards the end I couldn’t have put this book down even if I had wanted to. I simply had to keep reading. If anyone had tried to take it from me, hey would have had a hard time prising it out of my hands.
The story is told from Neve’s and Leah’s points of view and the contrast between them and their lifestyle is acute. The writing is simple and stark. The incident with the banana on page 94, and the child’s comment about ‘a forever house’ on page 89 spoke volumes, as did this line. ’Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Someone wise once said that.’ This is a haunting thought provoking read about motherhood and about judging and marginalising others. The setting for this tale is the wintry Mornington Peninsular and is an integral part of the story. I suspect the fact that these events happen over an Easter weekend is also significant. Highly recommended read.

[Carol - Reading Writing and Riesling · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! Read this!!!!

My View:
WOW!!! Such exquisite writing packed with feelings.

Motherhood – what a complicated, exhausting, rewarding, frustrating, emotional roller-coaster of a journey it is and Anna George captures the nuances of this very individual yet collective experience so well.

The narrative takes place in an isolated wintry landscape – a holiday maker’s idyll in the summer, almost a different territory in the wet and sombre wintry days – weather to match the bleak mood of the protagonist – Neve Ayres – so bleak the narrative has a somewhat gothic feel. The landscape plays such an important role in this narrative - defining mood, creating atmosphere and drama, all captivatingly written.

Motherhood is depicted in an honest, brave and scarily accurate manner, it seems George has managed to pick your mind and reveal a mother’s inner most fears and muddle of feelings. These are explored in dual settings – motherhood is explored where material wealth is no barrier to a potential favourable lifestyle juxtaposed against the experience of motherhood lived in poverty and homelessness– such different lives but the underlying emotions and connection between mother and child, bridge the social gap. Isolation doesn’t care about social position.

Add to this rich blanket of emotions the spectre of death and a discussion surrounding mourning and a spooky undercurrent haunts the pages and culminates in an ending that is surreal and powerful. So many emotions on these pages, such an incredible read!

I have one question – what next can we expect from the writer Anna George? Two wonderful thought provoking books covering such different themes…what next?

[MaryG2E · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★s
A tense, psychological suspense novel, The Lone Child is a brilliant piece of writing. I could barely put it down.

I must confess that I spent a sizeable chunk of my childhood living at Flinders, and I can report from first hand experience that the setting of the novel is 100% authentic. As I read the book I could see in my mind's eye the sections of beach and the steep slopes with the grand houses looking out over Western Port Bay, where I had walked as a kid (and re-visited often in adulthood.) Of course the modest fishing and farming village of my youth has been greatly gentrified in recent years, which has changed the demographics of the town irrevocably.

I'm not sure if the author has depicted a real house in her creation of Neve Ayres's architectural gem, but I can attest to the isolation of similar houses at the end of narrow, winding, gravel roads, which Anna George has used to generate a sense of brooding solitude and potential danger. The author has also "nailed" the weather 100%, as Flinders is a bleak place with ferocious winds and huge tides during the cooler months. (When our house was built in 1965 extra strong fastenings were used to ensure the corrugated iron roof would hold in the face of howling gales!)

Anna George has certainly picked the right location for a novel with a Gothic feel. Outside is not only inhospitable, but also dangerous. Inside is safe, warm and supposedly secure...until Neve catches glimpses and sees signs of people who should not be there.

The story begins on the day before Good Friday, and the start of Easter. Neve, an esteemed architect, has retreated to the magnificent home she had designed on the clifftop at Flinders. She is battling total exhaustion as she tries to manage her new baby on her own. He's a fretful infant who causes Neve, a first time mother, huge anxieties as she struggles to cope with his demands and her own basic needs for food, sleep and rest. The baby's father, Kris, walked out on Neve during her eighth month of pregnancy. Full of resentment at his abandonment of her, she is determined to go it alone.

Neve is not the only mother to experience the recent desertion of a partner. In a parallel narrative strand, Leah Chalmers is battling to keep a roof over her head and that of her two young children following the defection of her husband Mitch. Like Neve, she is under enormous stress, trying to juggle her finances, look after her kids and hold down a part time job, while couch surfing at her sister's unit. It doesn't help that 5yo Tayla is an awkward, reclusive child, with a propensity for running away. This is exactly what happens when Leah arrives at the end of Spindrift Avenue to clean a house close by Neve's. Stressed to the max, quick to anger, Leah's high strung behaviour causes Tayla to take off to the beach by herself, where she almost drowns until rescued by Neve.

We follow the separate narrative strands, and it is not until the very end of the novel that the two come together and the situations merge. All through the book we see how these two women, from very different backgrounds, struggle to deal with extreme stresses over which they have almost no control. Both women sacrifice their own health and well-being, so determined are they to care for their children to the best of their ability. Under overwhelming pressures, both of them lose sight of reality. As most of the action takes place in Neve's house at Flinders, a large part of the narrative focuses on her plight and her efforts to assist the little girl she'd dragged from the water.

The author adds completely plausible pressures to the stressful situations of the mothers - in her anger, Leah drives erratically and knocks down part of Neve's fence; when Neve reports the lone child on the beach to the police, the local sergeant treats her with contempt and fails to conduct a thorough search; Neve's ex-partner turns up on her doorstep unannounced, while Leah's ex, living in Queensland, maxes out their credit card; an untreated ear infection lands Leah in hospital...and so it goes, an incremental build up in the problems faced by the two mothers, which push them to the end of their mental strengths. How the two women, very different in temperament, education and life experience, deal with the burdens loaded on them is at the heart of this engrossing novel.

I did not anticipate the ending, though with hindsight, I could see where I had overlooked certain clues. Everything clicked into place with the resolution of the drama of lost Tayla. Although this book is clearly a work of fiction, I think the author has delivered great insights into the mind-sets of new mothers, especially those without the usual supports generally expected by society and the health professionals. It also explores in a meaningful way the plight of women whose lives have been blighted by the failure of loved ones to remain constant. Above all, the dedication of mothers to their children shines through.

Another reason I enjoyed this novel was that it was a genuine suspense/mystery read, but without any violence or grim forensic detail. There should be many more books like this on the shelves!

[Sally Hepworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the BEST books you'll read this year. Following up from her stunning debut, What Came Before, Anna George has hit it out of the park with her next book, The Lone Child. Set in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, this novel explores the important issues of class, judgement and ... sleep deprivation ... and ties it together in a novel so poignant you will be thinking about it for years.
If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lone Child focuses on character development, imbued with sadness, longing, regret and loss. Reviewed at Newtown Review of Books

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Neve Ayres pretended she didn’t know the baby strapped to her chest.’

Neve Ayres is 39, and an architect. But Neve’s world is disintegrating around her. Her lover abandoned her when she was eight months pregnant, and trying to manage an unsettled, restless newborn child on her own is not easy. Neve is sleep deprived, focussed on survival, trying to juggle feeds and sleep. Cliff, her son, is six weeks old. Neve has retreated to her cliff-top holiday home in coastal Victoria, an enormous split-level home. Here, alone, she attempts to manage. Clearly, to the reader, she isn’t.

Then, as Neve walks along the beach trying to get Cliff to settle, she encounters another child. A small girl playing on the beach alone. It’s autumn, the child is bare-legged, dressed in threadbare clothing. Close-up, Neve sees that the child has bruises and ‘teeth chipped like crockery’. Eventually the mother appears, and the child leaves.

‘On Friday morning, a child appeared in my garden.’

But then the girl, whom Neve calls Jessie, reappears in Neve’s garden and begs to be allowed to stay. What should Neve do? What will Neve do? Who is this little girl, and where is her mother?

While the events of this novel play out across the Easter long weekend, elements of the past are also important. Much of the novel is provided as a third-person perspective from Neve’s mindset, but we also get glimpses into Leah’s world (Leah is the little girl’s mother). It is not only the children in this novel who need nurturing.

I found this novel haunting. Partly because of the subject matter and partly because some twists at the end had me questioning what I thought I’d understood along the way. Can reality be so mutable, so fragile?

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Lizzy Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anna George delivers another engaging, well-written psychological suspense. Very different from the author's brilliant debut, What Came Before: less clever, but more emotionally engaging. Set over an Easter weekend on a moody, almost gothic, part of the Victorian coast, the story dramatises a new mother's experience of grief, sleep-deprivation and redeeming love. Fans of Dawn Barker's Fractured will love this book. Highly recommended.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neve is a new mum on a sabbatical of sorts, living in semi-isolation along the Victorian Mornington Peninsula, the 30-something single finds herself adjusting to life with a newborn without any support from her ex or family, battling sleep deprivation, and having to deal with her father's poor business decisions which rubbed many of the locals the wrong way - he's on another continent avoiding the conflict, though this element of the story is largely glossed over in favor of Neve and the predicament she finds herself. In addition to this new period of adjustment, Neve has to content with a mysterious and dangerously malnourished young child seemingly forgotten about by her family or having run away into Neve's warm motherly embrace.

The book primarily focuses on Neve and 'Jessie' as she's named by Neve as their relationship grows and Neve's motherly instincts strengthen to the point of unlawfulness; should Neve alert the authorities to 'Jessie' or should she keep her and care for her; a ready-made older sister for baby Cliff? This indecisiveness is interesting and well articulated as the rationale line of thought blurs with each new chapter.

On the flip side there's 'Jessie's' biological mother, a hard-luck skittish young woman who cleans for a living and couch surfs with her two children. When her eldest goes missing she leaves her youngest in their broken down car in the Mornington Peninsula in search of her. Her maternal instincts are questionable at times and her decision making is rash and made with snap judgment - the character provides a distinct contrast with Neve's well-to-do manner.

I really enjoyed The Lone Child; it's an interesting character study with an undercurrent of suspense and omnipotent threat of impending doom that kept me turning the pages. There's also one hell of a twist that still has me reeling. Great book.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

[Rikki Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a quick, compelling interesting read. Early on I felt confused at times, and sometimes felt a bit disconnected from the characters, but I loved the concept and the mystery and was satisfied by the ending!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. I found this a compelling quick read and it is always great to read novels set in geographical areas I am familiar with. This would have been a 4-star read for me, except that I found the ending let it down a little bit. It hit its peak too suddenly and then tied the pieces together too quickly and so it lost its credibility for me at that point. A slower build-up, peak and conclusion would have maintained its mystery, allure and credibility much more convincingly for me. However, having said that I did really enjoy it and did become thoroughly engaged in the story.

[Rach Denholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one didn't quite pan out the way I thought it would. Part way in, I was considering not finishing, as I felt the narrator was writing for either a very young or an uneducated audience. It seemed that everything was over-explained and there was just way too much information and detail about irrelevant happenings. In hindsight I can say that the end was unexpected and showed a little more forethought than I had anticipated and helped some of the inconsistencies in the main character make sense.
One of those books that have to be endured so that when you read something totally amazing, you really appreciate what you're onto.

[Dianne Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anna George's story of two single mothers from opposite ends of Australia's social spectrum, both facing common challenges of motherhood, illustrates how education, relative privilege and financial security can make a difference... but how in the end, it all gets down to resilience and the caring given by and accepted from others.
Main characters Neve and Leah are provocatively flawed making therm unpredictable and interesting. Setting is well portrayed and enhances the plot to perfection.
It was a difficult story to capture and follow at times, but by the time the reading was complete, I understood why. A rewarding and mesmerising read, I shall be picking up Anna George's debut novel next.

[Helen King · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read covering the intersection of two mothers over an Easter long weekend. During this time, the experiences each has as a parent of young children raises new perspectives and shows the dangers of making assumptions (yes, being cryptic intentionally). The novel jumped around a bit - but that was probably a reflection of the state of mind of both women (sleep deprivation will do that to you. I particularly enjoyed the beautifully described town of Flinders and the westernport bay side of the Mornington Peninsula. I know this area well, and it was so well captured.

[Katie Furze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is one of the best books I've read this year. The writing is wonderful, the characters so real I feel like I know them, and the storyline is gripping. With themes of maternal love and loss, social inequality, and judgement of others, 'The Lone Child' is an very important book, and one that will stay in my mind for some time.

[Deborah (debbishdotcom) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected. Which is weird because – in reality – I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this book. The backcover blurb didn’t really give me any insight into the ‘type’ of novel I was going to be reading. I’m not sure that should matter and (thankfully) as it happened, it didn’t.

I’m a lover of thrillers and mysteries and I knew this wasn’t going to be that sort of book. Although there was an element of suspense as we’re uncertain as to how things will play out. And – of course – there’s a twist or two at the end that I really did not see coming.


When we meet Neve, her baby Cliff is just 6 weeks old and she’s really struggling. She’s counting down the days and weeks until her maternity leave is over and she can return to work and escape from the child with whom she’s struggling to bond.

We learn pretty quickly that she broke up with her child’s father – who went back to his wife – only a month before she was due to give birth and has no other friends or family for support. I guess I might have liked a little more context in terms of how Neve went from a motherless 7yr old to a 39yr old with few friends and a kind, though seemingly exacting and frosty demeanour.

However, George does a great job at putting us in Neve’s head – though the book’s written in third person. We know that she expected things to be different with motherhood and she’s unhappy (and slightly uncomprehending) at the turn her life’s taken.

George also puts us in the head of Leah, the mother of (Jessie) the child Neve meets at the beach. It wasn’t until I was writing this that I realised the book is almost as much about Leah’s story as it is about Neve’s. I probably would have liked a little more context re Leah and her husband’s break-up. Thankfully though George shies away from cliches and we’re not offered a bad single mother up on a platter. Leah’s story is complicated and I was interested in the glimpses we were offered as there’s a lesson there about how quickly things can turn south.

And finally there’s Sal a local stonemason who’s recently lost his mother and who comes into Neve’s life over the tumultuous Easter weekend.

I very much enjoyed George’s addictively beautiful prose and elegant phrasing: the way George describes Neve’s initial perception of Jessie (for example)… that she was ‘struck by the girl’s otherness….’ (p 5)

I also enjoyed the way in which George keeps we readers guessing and the twists near the end took me by surprise - and required a bit of contemplation in retrospect.

There’s a strong sense of sorrow and loss littered throughout this novel. As well as an underlying theme of vulnerability… and the extent to which we allow ourselves to accept our frailties. And what happens if or when we don’t.

Read the full review on my site: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two main parallel stories in this novel about two women and motherhood. Both are abandoned when in time of need. Their stories are connected by the child Tayla/Jessie. Neve is 39, an architect and first time mother to a demaning 9 week week old son Cliff. When 8 months pregnant her lover Kris returned to his wife. Neve is now living at Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. This is the place where her mother drowned when she was young. Leah is 24, a night cleaner and the mother of Tayla (Jessie) 5 years old, and Cyndi 17 months old. Leah's mother left the family when she was young. Leah, too has been deserted by her partner, Mitch. Leah is homeless as her sister Kelly and brother-in-law Philip have told her to leave their home. So understandably both Neve and Leah are emotionally drained and not coping well with life's demands. Both are estranged from the world. Neve saves Tayla from drowning in rock pool and allows her to take refuge in her home. Tayla is a tormented child and does not reveal her name to Neve, so is called Jessie by her. Meanwhile, Leah is distraught and is in hospital after a car accident. The story covers the Easter holiday period and is intrigguing from the beginning, but so frustrating by the end. The improbabilities were a bit too much for me, and it is a pity because Anna George writes well.

[Adrienne Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this one hard to put down - I had been to a talk by this author recently. I thought the book very insightful and was impressed by the fact, that while acknowledging perceived class and privilege Neve was drawn to the child and the personality of the child allowing recognition that one's initial reaction to some people forced to live from hand to mouth because of personal circumstances doesn't necessarily change who they really are. Jesse's mother was not "privileged" but was hard-working and caring and going through a very difficult time, as a lot of her life could be seen as being - while Neve thought she was also going through a hard time by being sleep deprived and not coping with a new baby. Insightful because Anna George was able to see the similarities and differences and not be a "judgemental and labelling" author and that in itself is a very rare skill in this day and age. Each moment of each life passes in a moment- as does the circumstances in which we live - made me question whether life skills are more developed in a child having to cope with a harsher reality or it is down to personality of any child developing - wonderful to read a book where this is acknowledged.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a real disappointment. Having enjoyed Anna George's debut novel "What came before", I had high expectations of this one being a similarly gripping and suspenseful psychological thriller. The plot held a lot of promise, but it just didn't make much sense to me. I found the story of a "lost" child tedious and something about the style of writing made it difficult to read. It wasn't enjoyable and I found myself skimming over whole sections. I could not relate to the characters. They felt under developed and not at all likeable. Other reviewers talk about the metaphors, the story behind the story and the struggle of two single mothers, but all at the expense of a decent story. The plot jumped around a lot, the supporting characters seemed to be token and the only sense of place was created by referencing bad weather and tourists.
Disappointing.

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

for Rosebud Book Club - Australian author - set in Mornington Penninsula. About a single mom to a new born boy and how she meets a 5 year old girl who opens her heart and her perspective on people, the world and social hierarchy (as previously she had been judgemental and a snob). The twist in the book is that she thought she had the girl live with her for days when in actuality she had sent the girl away. The book was pretty good - 7.5 out of 10? Didn't like the suddenness of the ending

[Cel Jel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the disappearance of one child for some days over an Easter break, two women who are both struggling with life, and others around the who provide support. It is a very well paced book, and you are left to make your own decisions as to what really happens.
The book had our book group all agreeing that we were glad we had read it, and led to much discussion over the content.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the book. I liked the descriptions of the early days of motherhood, I could very much relate and was taken back to some special moments with my two bubs. Not sure that I was too keen on the ending, but it was okay. I liked that it was set on the Mornington Peninsula.. the description of settimgs was good too. A nice, light read.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. Am going to now look out for Anna George 's other book. I wanted to keep reading this book, but at the same time I didn't want it to end. As I got closer to finishing it, I still wasn't sure what would unfold. Not a predictable tale by any means. Give it a tru

[Catriona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dipped in and out of the book, not sure about it but the twists and turns at the end were great.

A great thought in not judging others by what we see and hear. We need to walk in their shoes to truly understand.

[Anne-Maree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do love a book written in an area you are familiar with. Flinders and the surrounds ring true to the point I want to go and see if the house exists. A very good book that is in touch with the many emotions of a new mum and the sad story of a neglected child.

[Samantha Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable story - seemingly about motherhood - that morphs into one about grief, loss, spirits and second chances. And how people are never as they seem. The follow up to George's What Came Before is just as masterful and haunting.

[Gayle Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not of the same calibre as her first book
What Came Before but tightly written
Again a book about relationships and events which can bring us undone
Never is a well sketched flawed sad character trying to make sense of changed circumstances , a new baby and little support
Maybe 3.5

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleep deprived mother of newborn, deserted by married partner, finds child. Child's mother was left destitute by husband. Exciting story of relationship of women with the child and the effect of their mental state on the relationship. Story of love with unexpected ending.