The Winter's Child

'One of the best books I've read all year ... A tender, raw, heartbreaking brutally honest look at how much a mother can love a child. An over-used phrase but I could not put down this raw, intense thriller. A beautiful, tense, complex thriller.' Adele Parks'Fresh. Original. Spell-binding.' Jane Corry 'A wonderful writer with a painterly eye for detail... There are some brilliant twists.' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail Five years ago, Susannah Harper's son Joel went missing without trace. Bereft of her son and then of her husband John, Susannah tries to accept that she may never know for certain what has happened to her lost loved ones. She has rebuilt her life around a simple selfless mission: to help others who, like her, must learn to live without hope. But then, on the last night of Hull Fair, a fortune-teller makes an eerie prediction. Susannah is told that this Christmas Eve, Joel will finally come back to her. As her carefully-constructed life begins to unravel, Susannah is drawn into a world of psychics and charlatans, half-truths and hauntings, friendships and betrayals, forcing her to confront the buried truths of her family's past, where nothing and no one are quite as they seem. Cassandra Parkin brings us a ghostly winter mystery with a modern gothic flavor. A dark tale of twisted love, marriage, family secrets and hauntings, Parkin keeps us guessing throughout. 'A gripping tale of mother love' Sam Hepburn 'Wow. I have always loved Parkin's books - have read every single one - but oh, this is a treat. All her usual talents are present and accounted for; beautiful prose, thoughtful and real characters, gorgeous story. But this one is darker, twistier, and utterly addictive. Watch out world, this one should be huge!' Louise Beech 'Cassandra Parkin's The Winter's Child is a gripping thriller from beginning to end, certain to chill and haunt... a journey filled with skillful twists and turns on every page. A fantastic, eerie story ... The prose is eloquent and skilful. From the first chapter, the characters develop into tangible, fully realized people. The cast exists in a foreboding world, a dark atmosphere that Parkin deftly crafts with each scene ... deeply disturbing, intimate, and effective. In addition, there is an underlying commentary on gender and motherhood that further deepens the novel's scope. The Winter's Child is a stunning, beautifully disturbing mystery.' MYA ALEXICE, Foreword Reviews