In the dead of night, Lily Waite and her 5-year-old son, Matthew, arrive at their new home on a council estate in East London; their only possessions, two suitcases and a bag of charred remains. Their past is a mystery, Matthew's father nowhere in evidence, and Lily resolute in her need for privacy. But Lily has to come to terms with the events that precipitated her flight from Yorkshire and, as she relaxes enough to allow new relationships into her and her son's life, the secrets of the past finally begin to relinquish their hold on the future.

'A cracking page-turner of a novel', compassionate and beautifully written portrait of a young single mother breaking free from her past

About the Author
Jill Dawson's novels include Fred & Edie, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, Watch Me Disappear, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize, and The Crime Writer, winner of the East Anglian Book of the Year. An award-winning poet, she has also edited several poetry and short story anthologies. She has held many fellowships, including the Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of East Anglia. In 2008 she founded a mentoring scheme for new writers, Gold Dust, and in 2020 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in the Cambridgeshire Fens.

Reviews
A compelling drama, full of subtle observation and wry humour * The Times *

'I loved it ... It's a novel very much of its time and that's what drew me to it so closely - if someone who understands doesn't write about Lily and those like her how will their voice ever be heard? And that's why I love contemporary fiction of this calibre - it tells me how it is'
Margaret Forster

A cracking page-turner of a novel, written with consummate skill and feeling. This wholly contemporary story of love and survival in the city is free of cliche and full of surprises * Judy Cooke, Mail on Sunday *

'This is an enjoyable novel; its brisk prose infused by Dawson's warmth and sympathy for her well-observed characters'
Edward Platt in the Sunday Times

Lily walks between loneliness and defiance, wretchedness and quiet triumph; it's a delicate line and Jill Dawson achieves it with style, humour and honesty * Roddy Doyle *

'A cracking page-turner of a novel, written with consumate skill and feeling. This wholly contemporary story of love and survival in the city is free of cliche and full of surprises''
Judy Cooke in the Mail on Sunday

A beautifully evocative novel about loneliness, friendship and love. Seldom has inner-city London been depicted with such passion, and peopled with such a disparate array of characters, all of whom remain totally convincing and linger in the memory long after the final page * Caryl Phillips *

'A compelling drama, full of subtle observation and wry humour, which engages the reader's symapthies. One of the reasons for the book's success is its likeable central character, another is the truthfulness and sensitivity with which it depicts ordinary life'
Christina Koning in The Times

'Lily walks between loneliness and defiance, wretchedness and quiet triumph; it's a delicate line and Lily's creator Jill Dawson achieves it with style, humour and honesty'
Roddy Doyle

One of the reasons for the book's success is its likeable central character, another is the truthfulness and sensitivity with which it depicts ordinary life * Christina Koning, The Times *
[A] gem of a novel ... compelling, honest and unputdownable * List *

'A beautifully evocative novel about loneliness, friendship and love'
Caryl Phillips

'This observational drama cleverly keeps you guessing throughout.'
Wigan Evening Post, 17th July 1999

Book Information
ISBN 9780340653852
Author Jill Dawson
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Sceptre
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 180g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 128mm * 22mm