The First Day of Spring: Discover the year's most page-turning thriller

Description

A gripping and dark book club debut with a compelling voice at its centre. 'So that was all it took,' I thought. 'That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow-haired boy. It wasn't so much after all.' Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands. Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing, sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn't get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. Fifteen years later, Julia is trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried - about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away. That's when the phone calls begin, which Julia is too afraid to answer, because it's clear the caller knows the truth about what happened all those years ago. And it's time to face the truth- is forgiveness and redemption ever possible for someone who has killed?

Nancy Tucker is a trainee Clinical Psychologist. Her memoir of her childhood struggle with anorexia, The Time in Between, was published in 2015. Her follow-up, That Was When People Started to Worry, an examination of young women's mental health, was published in 2018. The First Day of Spring is her first work of fiction.

An extraordinary and heart-rending novel' * Observer * The First Day Of Spring is a gut-wrenching tale about the effects of neglect and loneliness on a child. Eight-year-old Chrissie's voice is so raw and authentic that I could not stop turning the pages, desperate to find out what she would do next. A harrowing, incisive debut. -- Stephanie Wrobel, author of THE RECOVERY OF ROSE GOLD Nancy Tucker has created one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever read, with a remarkable voice that is both piercing and poetic. The contrast between innocence and evil is breathtaking - I found myself aching for Chrissie/Julia as she learns to survive as a daughter and then mother in a world that has failed her. Chilling, thought-provoking, and compulsively readable, The First Day of Spring is a novel that will break your heart on every page and never leave you. I loved it. -- Ashley Audrain, author of THE PUSH Exceptional. Chrissie is a brilliantly drawn character and her hollowness gives a real ache to the story. If anyone has to be potential to be a major voice of the future, it is Nancy Tucker. -- Sarah Stovell, author of EXQUISITE Knocks all the previous 'bad kid' narratives into a cocked hat. I loved it. -- Lucy Hay, author of DO NO HARM