Everyone thought we were dead...

Two girls went missing - and now the truth is coming back to haunt them...

Lois and Carly-May were just twelve when they were abducted by a stranger and imprisoned in a cabin in the woods for two months.

That summer, under the watchful gaze of their kidnapper, they formed a bond that would never be broken.

Decades later, both women have new lives and identities. But the events of that summer are about to come back with a vengeance.

Lois and Carly-May must face the truth about their secret, shared past...

What really happened in the woods that summer?

About the Author

Maggie Mitchell has published short fiction in a number of literary magazines, including the New Ohio Review, American Literary Review, and Green Mountains Review. Her story 'It Would Be Different If' is included in the Bedford Introduction to Literature. She teaches English and creative writing at the University of West Georgia.

Follow Maggie on Twitter @memitchell_99

Reviews
A very original debut novel and an intriguing thriller -- Susan Riaz
...psychologically astute tale about identity, mask-wearing and escaping the past, from the contrapuntal plotting to the heroines' deftly differentiated voices. * SUNDAY TIMES *
Mitchell gleefully manipulates all these strands, dropping in references to murder-mystery novels, Bluebeard and the creepy Robert Browning poem Porphyria's Lover, in which a charismatic, smitten man ends up murdering his golden-haired lover. She then sends the characters off to the film's location for the dramatic denouement. This is a whip-smart beach read. * SUNDAY EXPRESS *
There is a real ring of truth to this intelligent thriller, full of psychological tension. A great debut. * SUNDAY MIRROR *
A gripping thriller with an incisive psychological twist, examining survival, friendship and memory. * THE LADY *
Lois and Carly-May are just 12 years old when they're abducted and imprisoned for two months. They form a bond that will never be broken. Decades later, the girls have built new lives and identities for themselves. But increasingly haunted by the devastating experience that shaped them, they're drawn together again... * BELLA MAGAZINE *
The survivors of a mysterious childhood abduction struggle with their memories in Maggie Mitchell's teasing, many-storied debut... Ever since Emma Donoghue, inspired by the Josef Fritzl case, impressed and horrified in equal measure with Room, there has been a slowly growing trend for thrillers about abducted children. Maggie Mitchell's debut, Pretty Is, joins a phalanx of fellow kidnap-lit novels out in recent months - The Girl in the Red Coat, How I Lost You, The Boy That Never Was - but stands out for its slick, subversive take on a trope that is showing no signs of going away. * OBSERVER *
An atmospheric psychological thriller with two complex female characters at its heart, PRETTY IS deserves a place on your bookshelf. * HEAT MAGAZINE *
a satisfying, literary, multi-layered novel, which teases the reader until the very end * DAILY MAIL *
haunting debut novel... This novel is dense and unsettling, with a structure more akin to a literary novel than a straightforward crime story (the author is a university English teacher). There are alternating viewpoints, between Chloe and Lois, and a section which is a lengthy extract from Lois's novel, and the result is multilayered and memorable. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *



Book Information
ISBN 9781409152682
Author Maggie Mitchell
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 310g
Dimensions(mm) 200mm * 158mm * 26mm