Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2010.

Costa Book Awards 2010 Judges' comment: "A raw, compelling story told with savage beauty.  Difficult to read but impossible to put down."

Synopsis

I stare at the photo. I try to read his gaze, each fold on his face, the slight frown. I study the photo in the same way that a spy might study the face of a counterpart in a rival organization. I am calm as I make this promise: I am going to find out what you love, then whatever it is, I am going to track it down and I am going to take it away from you. Two police officers knock on Laura's door and her life changes forever. They tell her that her nine-year old daughter Betty has been hit by a car and killed. When justice is slow to arrive, Laura decides to take her own revenge and begins to track down the man responsible. Laura's grief also re-opens old wounds and she is thrown back to the story of her passionate love affair with Betty's father David, their marriage and his subsequent affair with another woman. Haunted by her past, and driven to breaking point by her desire for retribution, Laura discovers the lengths she is willing to go to for love. Whatever You Love is a heart-wrenching novel of revenge, compulsion and desire from acclaimed novelist Louise Doughty.

About the Author

Louise Doughty is the author of five novels; Crazy Paving, Dance With Me, Honeydew, Fires In The Dark and Stone Cradle, and three plays for radio. She has also worked widely as a journalist and broadcaster. In 1990, she was the recipient of an Ian St James Award for a short story and a Radio Times Drama Award for her first play, Maybe Me, both of which received widespread critical acclaim. She lives in London, NW5. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation