Why a Booktrail?
1916, 2016: A father desperately searches for his lost daughter…
1916, 2016: A father desperately searches for his lost daughter…
Driving home one night, stuck behind a rusty old car, Gabe sees a little girl’s face appear in the rear window.
She mouths one word: ‘Daddy.’
It’s his five-year-old daughter, Izzy.
He never sees her again.
Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe that Izzy is dead.
Fran and her daughter, Alice, also put in a lot of miles on the motorway. Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them.
Because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe’s daughter. She knows who is responsible. And she knows what they will do if they ever catch up with her and Alice . .
Much of the novel takes place up and down the M1 in and around Northampton. The village of Barton Marsh is ficitonal as this is where some of the characters live and it’s a very strange place so it’s understandably not based on a real place.
It’s the characters in this novel that stand out – those you meet on the motorway, at service stations at night. Those who stop by, who are lonely, homeless or drifting for one reason or another. One of them in the book is searching for his daughter….
Imagine driving along a road and reading the stickers in the back window of a car in front. then you see the face of your lost little girl staring back out at you through that strange car.
The setting is one of lonely motorways, drifters of society, villages in and around Northampton and those woods….
Bang! This starts with one and never lets up. Three people narrate the story and there are some sad moments, disturbed characters and a sense that life really is s*** sometimes. Brilliantly created and explored by Tudor. Much of the novel is set up and down the motorways of England and this sense of non- ending journeys, searching, vague stop offs and dark nights really ramp up the tension and sense of place. You’re fully focused on the characters and their motivations. Did I read it in the kindle in the dark when in a car driving along a motorway – you betcha! Method reading I call it – but in this case, it’s not wise to do so. I will never hear the sound of clacking stones, or see service stations in the same way again. As for mirrors….
And I will be always looking around when I travel, in case I see the other people!
Destination’location: England, Northampton Author/guide: C J Tudor Departure Time: 1996, 2016, 2018
Back to Results2000s: Kyle inherits a house only to find something is still living there….
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