A debut novel exploring the loneliness, secrets and silences that haunt even the most loving of families and how some bonds, against all odds, can never be broken.
What would you do if you were invisible to your husband and your teenage son? How would you feel if they no longer spoke to you; if you knew your husband had had an affair? And what if your mother, a life-long alcoholic, had just suffered a stroke and become completely dependent on you? Above all, what if you were nurturing a secret grief so bitter and painful that it was consuming you from within?Now imagine that one day you won 00. Would you take the money and walk away?When Carol Ann disappears without trace from her middle-class life in Scotland, she leaves behind a troubled family struggling to come to terms with their past. But the secrets that drove them apart follow her to a new life in Ireland, where she is pursued by memories, particularly of the mysterious Josie. But who was Josie and why does she have such power over the family?In this stunning debut, award-winning journalist Catherine Deveney explores the loneliness, secrets and silences that can haunt even the most loving of families -- and shows how some bonds, against all odds, can never be broken.
‘I was driven to the ending . . . very good indeed’ Melvyn Bragg
Author
About Catherine Deveney
Catherine Deveney was born and brought up in Glasgow and now lives in the Highlands of Scotland. She taught English and drama before becoming a journalist who specialised in feature writing and celebrity interviewing. A former Scottish Journalist of the Year, she has won many awards for her writing and has also hosted an interview series on Scottish television. Now a freelance writer and trainer, she has written extensively about abuse in the Catholic church over the years and was responsible for breaking the story of Cardinal Keith O'Brien in the Observer. She is married with two sons and one daughter.
