A stunningly original debut that weaves a multitude of emotions throughout. Single parent Beth has a hard time keeping her daughter Carmel from randomly wandering off. Then, when Carmel is eight she really does get completely separated from her mother and is taken in by a ‘grandfather’ figure. Naturally one assumes the worst. He tells her that her mother has been hit by a car and is in hospital. He takes her to a derelict house in Wales and eventually tells her her mother is dead. Then he takes her to America and things get very weird. We stay with her and her first-person narrative up until she is thirteen. We see her mother during this period too and after a slow start we race into a gripping ending. The book is beautifully underwritten, intensely moving and very atmospheric. Highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Shortlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award 2015.
She is the missing girl. But she doesn't know she's lost. Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift...While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is - and who she might become.
Kate Hamer grew up in Pembrokeshire. She did a Creative Writing MA at Aberystwyth University and the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course. She won the Rhys Davies short story award in 2011 and her winning story was read out on Radio 4. She has recently been awarded a Literature Wales bursary. She lives in Cardiff with her husband and two children.
