LoveReading Says
In a deep dark Scottish wood there stand two houses, a mile apart. Between them stands a hallowed building. A chapel? A crypt? And close by runs a river with a rickety bridge, a Devil’s Bridge. In the garden of one house is a rocking standing stone, all this adds a creepy atmosphere to a fine mystery. Once, one of the houses was a progressive hippy school which closed when a 12-year old lad committed suicide. Now, twenty-eight years later one of those original children is enticed back to the area. He is scared of something and an old friend takes him in and hides him. She is our narrator. What she unearths to help her friend grows more mysterious as she attempts to unearth what happened to those kids over the years. Layer on layer of mystery builds to an unexpected climax. Tight, well observed with a sinister sense of place and with a nod to the supernatural , this is an intriguing read. Highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Sarah Broadhurst
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The Child Garden Synopsis
A long-lost friend is a stranger you think you know Eden was its name. An alternative school for happy children, said the brochure. A load of hippies running wild in the woods, said the locals. After a suicide it closed its doors and the children scattered. Thirty years later, it's a care home; its grounds neglected and overgrown, its only neighbour Gloria Harkness, who acts as tenant-caretaker in a rundown farmhouse to be close to her son. Nicky lives in the home, lighting up Gloria's life and breaking her heart every day. Nicky and a ragbag of animals aren't enough to keep loneliness at bay, and when Gloria's childhood friend and secret sweetheart, Stephen Stig Tarrant, turns up at her door one night, all she can see is the boy she knew. She lets him in. Stig's being stalked by an Eden girl, he says. She has goaded him into meeting her at the site of the suicide. Except that suddenly, after all these years, the dead are beginning to speak and suicide is not what they say. When the children of Eden were sent out into the world they took a secret with them. And someone is making sure they take it to the grave.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781472122919 |
| Publication date: |
8th September 2016 |
| Author: |
Catriona McPherson |
| Publisher: |
Constable an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
304 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Catriona McPherson Press Reviews
'A deliciously disturbing tale of deception and self-deception' -- Alex Marwood
'Quite simply, McPherson is a terrific story teller' -- Ann Cleeves
'If you like your thrillers twisty and twisted, then you will love The Child Garden'
Val McDermid
'In her novels, Catriona McPherson spins webs of intrigue so beautiful and intricate she puts spiders to shame. With The Child Garden, she once again proves why she has rapidly become a star in the thriller genre. Her voice is seductive, her characters odd and engaging, her sense of place spot on, and I dare anyone to be able to predict where any of the story's dark but delightful twists are going to lead. This is a book you will absolutely devour' -- William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author
'I loved this book so much I can barely speak. From page one, it's seamlessly told, beautifully original, and the voice, well, the voice is proof that Catriona McPherson is a powerful force and major talent in crime fiction. And the last page? I cried' -- Hank Phillippi Ryan, New York Times bestselling author
