By the author of “Fred and Edie”, this is a subtle, superbly written psychological chiller about desire both innocent and warped. Tina Humber is 40 and living in the States when a moment of panic about her 10 year-old daughter triggers the memory of her childhood friend, Mandy Baker, who went missing at the same age from the sleepy Cambridgeshire village where they grew up. As Tina replays events and the past comes back to life, she begins to suspect the awful truth of what happened to Mandy. But after so many years, will anyone believe what is based on nothing more than conjecture, intuition and fragments of memory? And even if she is able to placate the ghost of Mandy Baker, there will be profound consequences for the living, including herself. Set against the backdrop of the waterlogged Fens, Jill Dawson’s powerful new novel captures the mysteries of childhood, and that volatile transitional stage when girls become aware of their attractions - but do not grasp the dangers.
