The Only Child
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4.0 • 36 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'A spine-tingling, evocative crime thriller' The Australian Women's Weekly
'An absorbing and chilling tale' New Idea
'An atmospheric and beautifully written crime thriller that switches between 1949 and 2013, both timelines equally fascinating. Utterly addictive' ALLIE REYNOLDS
Almost every graduating class had a girl who disappeared. A decades-old crime threatens to tear apart three generations of women in this unputdownable mystery that will keep you gripped until its last heart-wrenching page.
1949 It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts.
2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping to reconnect with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, but when an elderly nun is found dead, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered nearby, Frankie is desperate for answers.
By the bestselling author of The Silk House, Kayte Nunn, The Only Child is an evocative, unsettling tale of past misdeeds that will have you reading with your heart in your mouth.
'Page-turning . . . A thrilling feminist tale revealing stories that have too often been left buried' Books+Publishing
'Kayte Nunn's The Only Child will join Marge Piercy's Braided Lives, along with films such as Blossoms in the Dust and Vera Drake, as a reminder of what is at stake when the reproductive rights and choices of girls and women are diminished. It is a well-paced story with finely drawn characters - and it's hard to put down' JACQUELINE WINSPEAR
'A taut, clever whodunit . . . Kayte Nunn keeps the stakes high and the characters compelling, making for a fast, fresh, engrossing historical mystery' KATE QUINN
'A deeply moving look at a past when women's reproductive rights were denied . . . a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story that resonates in today's world' SUSAN WIGGS
'Richly drawn characters, masterful storytelling, and a slowly unraveling mystery kept me on the edge of my seat, right up until the satisfying ending' KAREN McQUESTION
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This gripping mystery from Nunn (The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant) alternates between Brigid, a plucky 16-year-old who's banished by her family when her pregnancy becomes evident in 1949, and Frankie Gray, a brave but angst-ridden former police officer in 2013, who's trying to reconnect with her 15-year-old daughter, Izzy. Frankie has come to Orcades Island in Puget Sound, Wash., to help her mother renovate Fairmile, a long-abandoned mansion that once housed a Catholic home for unwed mothers. When Frankie hears of a suspicious death at the assisted living facility where her grandmother's a resident, she immediately heads there. Frankie slips past the police and catches a glimpse of the crime scene, noting the twine that binds the elderly victim, a former nun, to her bed. Back at Fairmile, workmen uncover the long-buried body of an infant. Frankie investigates, but the stakes rise when Izzy disappears. The chapters about Brigid dramatically reveal the casual cruelty she suffered during her pregnancy and her will to survive. The skillful plot matches the two distinctive leads. This reminder of the harrowing realities faced by women pre–Roe v. Wade couldn't be more timely.
