An estranged daughter. A missing grandson. A mother faced with an impossible choice.
Renee Gulliver appears to have it all: a beautiful house overlooking a scenic estuary on England’s East Coast, a successful career as a relationship therapist, three grown-up children, and a beloved grandson, Xavier. But then Xavier vanishes after Renee fails to pick him up from school, and the repercussions are manifold.
Renee is wracked with remorse; the local community question her priorities, clients abandon her; and, as long-held grievances surface, her daughter Mia offers her a heartbreaking ultimatum. Amid recriminations, misunderstandings and lies, can Renee find a way to reunite her family?
For fans of Jodi Picoult and If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman, Penny Hancock's The Choice is an engrossing, thought-provoking novel about family secrets and the way that even the smallest decisions can sometimes have far-reaching consequences.
For fans of He Said/She Said and Anatomy of a Scandal, Penny Hancock's I Thought I Knew You is about secrets and lies - and whose side you take when it really matters.
Who do you know better? Your oldest friend? Or your child?
And who should you believe when one accuses the other of an abhorrent crime?
Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything, trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives: Holly is the only person who knows about Jules's affair; Jules was there for Holly when her husband died. And their two children - just three years apart - have grown up together.
So when Jules's daughter Saffie makes a serious allegation against Holly's son Saul, neither woman is prepared for the devastating impact this will have on their friendship or their families.
Especially as Holly, in spite of her principles, refuses to believe her son is guilty.
Driving to the cottage she's newly inherited, Ellie is so excited that she barely notices when the car bumps against something. That evening Ellie hears a news flash; a man was seriously injured in a hit and run. Could she have been responsible for putting a man in hospital? Unable to hold the doubts at bay, she decides to visit the victim, little knowing that the consequences of this decision will change her life forever.
A middle class woman at her wits' end and a struggling migrant worker with few options for survival. When tensions boil over, who will be the first to snap? Will it be Theodora, finally breaking under the pressure? Or Mona, desperate to find a way out?
Two women. Two stories. Who do you believe?
'An impressive debut from a writer we're certain to hear more about... Beautifully worked and with a sharp eye for the menace in the commonplace' DAILY MAIL
When her neighbor's fifteen-year-old nephew goes missing, Sonia is the last person that anyone would ever suspect. At forty-three, she is a strikingly attractive wife and mother. And like the River House, her lovely home overlooking the Thames, Sonia's life is a picture of perfection and normalcy-until she meets Jez. From the moment he shows up on Sonia's doorstep, the gorgeous teenage boy awakens a torrent of memories that she has worked a lifetime to forget. Drawn to Jez by a compulsion that she scarcely understands, Sonia takes him captive-prepared to sacrifice everything to keep him.
Evocative of thrillers by Chevy Stevens and Sophie Hannah, Kept in the Dark is a haunting debut novel about obsession, desire, and the potential darkness in us all.
"It's such a thrill to read a book as deliciously dark and richly evocative as Kept in the Dark. From the first page to its shocking finale it draws you into its world and won't let you go. A wonderful debut...I took Kept in the Dark on my travels, thinking it would last me a couple of weeks. Two days later I'd finished it, having stayed up all night, and was telling everyone I met they had got to read it. Brilliantly written and totally gripping. I loved it."-S. J. Watson, New York Times bestselling author
