Author Description

<p><b>The gripping <i>Sunday Times</i> bestseller, chosen as Book of the Month by the Guardian, Grazia and Observer, longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year</b><br><br>'Anna Bailey's debut is <b>irresistible</b>, a <b>compelling and nuanced psychological thriller</b> suffused with small town prejudice and dark family secrets.' <i>PAULA HAWKINS, author of bestselling The Girl on the Train</i><br><br>'One of the most <b>exciting</b> debuts of the year' <i>SUNDAY EXPRESS</i><br><br>'With <i>Tall Bones</i>, Anna Bailey bursts onto the scene with a <b>wonderfully haunting debut.</b> Small-town intrigue, exquisitely drawn' <i>JANE HARPER, bestselling author of The Dry</i><br><br>'Conjuring up... <b><i>Twin Peaks</i> and Gillian Flynn's <i>Sharp Objects</i></b>' <i>STYLIST</i><br><br>'Compelling, <b>beautifully nuanced,</b> brilliant' SJ WATSON, bestselling author of <i>Before I Go to Sleep</i><br><br><b>________________________________________________</b><br><br>When Emma leaves her friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, beneath the stark beauty of the stars, but Emma will never see her friend again.<br><br><b>But what happens next in Whistling Ridge is so much more than the story of a missing girl.</b><br><br>It's a spellbinding story that will keep you guessing, a story of surprises and secrets, regrets and rage, love and lies. Abi's disappearance cracks open the façade of this small town, peeling away the layers of its past.<br><br>Even within Abi's own family there are questions to be asked - of the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of the shining younger sibling who hides his wounds, of her mother and her father - both in thrall to the fiery preacher who has an unsettling grasp on the whole town.<br><br>And then there is Rat, the outsider, whose exciting presence is a catalyst for change.<br><br>Anything could happen in a tinder-box like Whistling Ridge. All it