WOMAN ON THE PIER

A chilling exploration of grief set between Essex, Kent and Australia with secrets and lies seeping across three generations. Eloquently written, it is a dissection of a mother's grief and her journey to get what she perceives as justice in an unflinching and visceral novel. Screenwriter Caroline Byrne is desperate to know why her daughter Jessica died in a horrifying terrorist attack, murdered in Stratford when she was supposed to be at a friend's in Somerset. When Caroline discovers the messages Jessica had been sending a boy named Michael, she realises it's because of him, because he failed to meet her that day and he's the reason why her daughter is dead. So she makes a choice and he's the one who is going to pay. That is her promise and her price. 387pp, paperback.