Darling

A teenage girl clashes with her new stepmother in this debut thriller with an unforgettable twist

‘A pile-up of devastating plot twists’ Bernardine Evaristo, author of Booker-winning Girl, Woman, Other

‘Dark, deep, thought-provoking. Go and read it!’ Adele Parks

‘Similar in spirit to We Need to Talk About Kevin’ Sunday Times

‘Genuinely unputdownable’ Clare Fisher, author of All the Good Things

‘Sure to be a reading group favourite’ Metro

‘Stunning’ Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request

‘The twists and turns left me reeling’ Eleanor Wasserberg, author of Foxlowe

I knew she was trouble from the moment I saw her. I felt it as she stood in the doorway that day: disaster. Not just because she was so different, that skin and that hair, as different from me as it’s possible to be. There was something wrong about her. Wrong for us. It was never going to work.

Now she is dead and only I am left to love him. She is dead, and it’s all my fault.

Reviews

'An impressive concoction of characterisation, language and daring, leading to a pile-up of devastating plot twists at the end. It's telly-ready!' Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

‘Fast-paced … similar in spirit to Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin’ Sunday Times

‘Stunning. I swung back and forth not knowing who to trust, and loved the two different voices which were so distinct. It had some brilliant twists and surprises, and I never knew where it was going. On top of that it was so beautifully written with such a distinctive style’ Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request

‘Sure to be a reading group favourite’ Metro

‘A darkly funny and modern take on literature’s wicked stepmothers. Inspired by the racist abuse she was subjected to after the Brexit referendum, Rachel Edwards isn’t pulling any punches’ Independent

‘A brilliant and surprising chameleon of a novel. I was so absorbed in the voices of Darling and Lola that the twists and turns of their story left me reeling’ Eleanor Wasserberg, author of Foxlowe

‘A page-turning thriller that grips the reader with its twisty exploration of the complex relationship between step mother and step daughter. I read through the night to discover the dramatic denouement’ Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat

‘I devoured Darling in a couple of days; told by two unforgettable female narrators, it's urgent, original and genuinely unputdownable’ Clare Fisher, author of All the Good Things

‘Dark, provocative and a refreshing take on the psychological thriller genre. Darling and Lola are both brilliant creations’ Emma Curtis, author of One Little Mistake

About the author

Rachel Edwards lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, stepdaughter and stepson. She was inspired to write Darling after being subjected to racist abuse the morning after the 2016 EU referendum. This is her first novel.