Product Description
Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift...
While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is—and who she might become.
While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is—and who she might become.
Reviews/Praise
"Voice actress Beamish's narration is superb. . . . The excellent voice narration makes this riveting novel even more powerful on audio." —Publishers Weekly Starred Audio Review
"Hamer and narrator Antonia Beamish offer edge-of-your-seat listening in this debut." ---Library Journal Audio Review
“Moving, convincing and completely compelling. I read through the night, desperate to know the little girl's fate.”—Erin Kelly, author of The Poison Tree
“Trust us: this book is unlike anything else.”—Stylist
“2015's oh-so-chilling thriller breakout.”—Grazia
“Unpredictable and moving.”—Marie Claire
“Like Emma Donoghue did in Room, Hamer starts off with a premise we think we know—an abducted child—and takes the reader somewhere completely unexpected. This is a beautifully written and highly original story that is gripping, thought-provoking and emotionally tender.”—Mumsnet 2015 Must Reads
“Thrillers about abducted children are hardly a fresh idea, but Kate Hamer's debut novel may be the most original take on the subject since Ian McEwan's The Child In Time...There is a surreal, fairytale-like quality to this unique and beguiling book.”—Sunday Express
“Gripping.”—Sunday Express Magazine
“This accomplished and enthralling debut novel follows what happens after the abduction of an eight-year-old girl, Carmel. Told from both her and her mother's points of view, this had me guessing until the very last page.”—Fanny Blake, Woman & Home
“The Girl in the Red Coat keeps the reader hooked—and awake into the small hours.”—Isabel Berwick, Financial Times
“Told in two very different voice, this debut is moving, tender and tense, exploring love and loss from the view of adult Beth and her otherworldly child in a way that's devastatingly convincing.”—Psychologies, Book of the Month
“Compulsively readable, Kate Hamer catches at the threads of what parents fear most—the abduction of a child—and weaves a disturbing and original story. There is menace in this book, lurking in the shadows on every page, but also innocence, love and hope. Beautifully written and unpredictable, I had to stop myself racing to the end to find out what happened.”—Rosamund Lupton, author of Sister
“An intense, and tense, stunning debut. Early on we encounter a maze, but the whole book is a kind of maze, and one full of striking imagery and chilling atmosphere. Kate Hamer conjures mystery with such grace, cool beauty and urgent suspense it never feels like a debut. Brilliant.” —Matt Haig, author of The Humans
“The Girl in the Red Coat is one of those rare literary beasts: beautifully written and yet utterly compulsive. Every page crackles with tension and while you race towards its conclusion, simultaneously you long to savour every page. Its portrayal of mother/daughter relationships is insightful, honest and raw without ever being sentimental or cloying. It is sure to be one of the debuts of the year.” —Hannah Beckerman, author of The Dead Wife's Handbook
“It keeps the reader turning pages at a frantic clip ... What's most powerful here is not who dunnit, or even why, but how this mother and daughter bear their separation, and the stories they tell themselves to help endure it.” —Celeste Ng, Guardian
“Page-turning yet beautifully written.” —Huffington Post
“The Girl in the Red Coat is a well-written psychological thriller, slotting into the genre that has spawned recent hits such as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train ... An engrossing read, to be devoured in a single lupine gulp.” —Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times
“Shot through with menace.” — Kerry Fowler, Sainsbury's Magazine
“A polished page-turner of a novel.” —Kate Kellaway, Observer New Faces of Fiction 2015
“Pulse-racing.” —Grazia
“Kate Hamer's novel is both gripping and sensitive—beautifully written, it is a compulsive, aching story full of loss and redemption.” —Lisa Ballantyne, author of The Guilty One
“Thought provoking and emotionally tender, The Girl in the Red Coat is a remarkable debut novel.” —Paula Daly, author of Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
“Told alternatively from Beth and Carmel's points of view, Hamer is incisive when it comes to the former's distress ... but masterfully captures the voice of the latter.” — Lu