WOMAN IN THE WOOD

Set in London 1960 and the lives of teenage twins Maisy and Duncan change for ever the night their mother is taken into an asylum. Sent to live in the New Forest with their cold-hearted grandmother, Mrs Mitcham, the children feel unloved and abandoned. At least they have each other, but one day Duncan doesn't come home from exploring in the forest and no one, least of all his grandmother, seems to care about his disappearance. The police who have found the bodies of other missing boys offer little hope of finding Duncan alive. Yet Maisy refuses to give up. Although she doesn't know the woods well, she knows someone who does, the strange old woman who lives at their heart. Does Maisy dare enlist the help of the woman in the wood? The Sunday Times bestselling author provides a narrative that gallops along in a glorious and heartwarming story of a girl who at just 15 was determined to find the truth. 398pp, Penguin paperback.