Watch Me Disappear

Description

A ten-year-old girl vanishes without trace from a Fenland village, her body never found. Thirty years on, she comes sharply back to life in the mind s eye of her childhood friend, Tina Humber, who has done her best to put the past behind her. But now, as Tina returns home for a family wedding, she replays her memories in search of what happened, fearing that deep down she has always known who killed Mandy Baker. In this subtle, moodily atmospheric novel, Jill Dawson explores the line between innocent and perverted desire, and that volatile stage when young girls become aware of their attractions, but do not grasp the dangers.

Jill Dawson is the author of TRICK OF THE LIGHT, MAGPIE, FRED AND EDIE, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Orange Prize, and WILD BOY, all published by Sceptre to critical acclaim. WATCH ME DISAPPEAR, her latest novel, will be published by Sceptre in March 2006. She is also an award-winning poet and has edited several anthologies including The Virago Book of Wicked Verse, and, with Margo Daly, Wild Ways. She was the British Council Fellow at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1997 and is currently the Royal Literary Fund Fellow in Writing at the University of East Anglia. Born in Durham, she now lives with her family in the Fens.

'Slow-burning, spine-crawling!It is a compelling, haunting and intelligent read.' -- Amanda Craig, Daily Telegraph 'Clever, compelling and impressive' -- Angela Cooke Daily Express 'The flavour of the 1970s is so accurate you can taste it...An unusually skilful and haunting novel' -- Sam Phipps, Sunday Herald 'An outstanding novel ! An intense, intelligent and compelling book that readers will find impossible to forget.' -- Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail 'A chilling and sharply articulated exploration of memories, identity and family relationships' -- Anna Millar, Scotland on Sunday