The Locksmith

This debut novel and Kindle Scout winner is about Jude, a Bristolian artist who lives in Bristol's bohemian quarter St. Werburghs, with her sculptor husband, Spider, and her three young children. A survivor of domestic violence, Jude is determined to find answers to Spider's sudden uncharacteristic aggression towards her and she suspects secrets from his past hold the key. Taking her three young children to stay with her mysterious mother-in-law, Audra, at a remote rundown farm in Dorset, Jude sets out to find the truth. Only Audra is a difficult character to fathom; a paranoid alcoholic who only seems interested in Jude's baby, Ruby. Jude's eldest, Ben, is happy on the farm but her middle child Immy is finding life there difficult. Always a sensitive child, Immy seems to be connecting to a chilling shadow she feels in the house and the barn. Despite Jude's best efforts to reconnect Audra with her estranged son Spider it becomes apparent that Audra has secrets of her own, and will stop at nothing to keep them.