This is the author’s debut novel for young adults and was shortlisted for a prize at the Wells Literary Festival 2021. Alice and Chloe work at The Grille restaurant. Tragedy strikes when a violent stranger, who has been following Alice, bursts into the restaurant just as they are closing and attacks them. Fast forward nine months - Sophia is the new girl at school. It seems that she has the perfect life. She is beautiful, her parents are wealthy and she has everything she could want. But Sophia has a secret. Her sister died nine months ago but she doesn’t want her new friends at school to know. We learn about Sophia’s life through the letters that she writes to her dead sister, on the advice of her therapist. Lily thinks her dad has abandoned her. But then she finds a bundle of letters from him which her mum had hidden from Lily to save her from having to read about her dad’s weekend barbeques on the beach and his exciting life with his new girlfriend in Australia. Then Lily finds out the truth about where her dad has really been. Anna is Lily’s best friend. She lives next door with her alcoholic, lazy dad, her mum and her baby brother. Anna doesn’t want to talk about it, but Lily knows what her home life is like, because she can hear it through the wall. This is a story of about difficult family life, of keeping up outward appearances, of troubles being covered up and of teenage friendship.
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