There is a sinister undertone throughout this book, it is the way that children can be innocent and yet so manipulative at the same time. This is a real page turner, well structured, engaging, intriguing and brilliant. A great new writer we hope to see a lot more of.
Carol has always resented her family - her mother, endlessly knitting, her father and his obsession with next door's encroaching garden hedge, and her brother, ever silent and scheming.
So when she is invited to meet the vibrant, bohemian family next door in their messy house full of books and paintings and empty of rules, Carol soon begins a secret double life over the much-hated garden hedge. Here Carol voices her greatest fantasy and tells her first major lie...that she is adopted.
But on her 16th birthday Carol receives the shock of her life when her wish comes true. And as, years later, Carol frenetically narrates her story from a psychiatric unit, we realise how it affected her and those around her in the darkest of ways...
'An enthralling collection of characters who quickly draw you right into their sinister world. An absolute gem, I couldn't put it down.' Kate Long, author of The Bad Mother's Handbook
'Day-dreamy Carol, the wryly funny and acerbically observant narrator, teasingly reveals her story . . . in this smart, sad and funny debut.' Daily Mail
Author
About Julia Widdows
Julia Widdows was born in London and now lives in Brighton. She is an award-winning short-story writer, and has run groups using writing as a therapeutic tool. Living in Perhaps is her first novel.
