Description

‘Wonderfully haunting’ JANE HARPER, author of The Dry

‘Extremely well written, fantastic’ HARRIET TYCE, author of Blood Orange

‘Conjuring up… Twin Peaks and Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects’ Stylist

‘Spellbinding…. a stunning debut’ Woman & Home

‘Irresistible’ PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train

‘Clever, twisting’ FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine

‘A nuanced thriller that will haunt you long after you race through its pages’ Grazia

‘One of the most exciting debuts of the year’ Sunday Express
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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.

But what happens next in Whistling Ridge is so much more than the story of a missing girl.

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 facade of this small town, peeling away the layers of its past. 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. And then there is Rat, the outsider, whose exciting presence is a catalyst for change.

Anything could happen in a tinder-box like Whistling Ridge. All it will take is just one spark…the truth of what happened that night at the Tall Bones. Beautifully written, arresting, and constantly surprising, TALL BONES is a gripping read from a stunning new voice.
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READERS AND REVIEWERS praise TALL BONES:

‘A striking first novel’ Observer

‘Fast-paced and moving’ Literary Review

‘Will haunt you long after you race through its pages’ Grazia (Book of the Month)

‘A compulsive literary crime-drama’ Culturefly

‘Bailey writes like a dream’ Emma Flint, author of Little Deaths

‘Brilliant, could not put it down’ Katie Fford

‘One of my all-time favourite reads’ Goodreads

‘I loved this book from the very first line’ Goodreads

Publisher Review

A nuanced thriller that will haunt you long after you race through its pages. * GRAZIA * This is a striking first novel, a chilling insight into an oppressive world, where bad thoughts and bad deeds ripple just below the surface, out of sight. * Alison Flood, OBSERVER * Fast paced and moving. * LITERARY REVIEW * Beautifully written and very moving, this is an assured debut. * Laura Wilson, GUARDIAN * One of the most exciting debuts of the year. * SUNDAY EXPRESS * Spellbinding and darkly beautiful.... intricately plotted and exquisitely written, Tall Bones is a stunning debut. * WOMEN & HOME * Cleverly written, Anna Bailey's debut shines a light on the darker and more oppressive side of small-town society. * INDEPENDENT * Both menacing and haunting, a compelling and atmospheric debut. * DAILY MAIL * The best kind of small-town crime novel... one that drips with atmosphere. Bailey has penned a dark and compulsive literary crime-drama about love, guilt, trauma, intolerance and the consequences of religious devotion... an intricately weaved and haunting story that will stay with you for days after. * CULTUREFLY * Bailey writes with perfect poise. She is destined for great things - I feel it in my bones. * SAGA magazine * One of the most exciting debuts of the year. * OK magazine * With Tall Bones, Anna Bailey bursts onto the scene with a wonderfully haunting debut. Small-town intrigue, exquisitely drawn. * JANE HARPER, author of The Dry and The Lost Man * Anna Bailey's debut is irresistible, a compelling and nuanced psychological thriller suffused with small town prejudice and dark family secrets. * PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train * An intricate and compelling thriller, beautifully nuanced and wonderfully claustrophobic. Brilliant. * SJ WATSON, author of Before I Go to Sleep * 'A clever, twisting debut about the dark side of small town America. It is packed with secrets like firecrackers ready to ignite.' * FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine * 'Anna Bailey writes like a dream about teenage love and lust, the terror of knowledge and the claustrophobia of families and of small towns.Tall Bones is as brutal, as bittersweet, as tender and as tense as first love itself.' * EMMA FLINT, author of Little Deaths * Tall Bones brilliantly conjures up the oppressive claustrophobia of the small town and I felt so strongly about some of the characters that I had to check the ending to make sure they were ok! Extremely well written... fantastic. * HARRIET TYCE, author of Blood Orange * Its portrait of small-town intrigue is scarily credible. Bailey understands that the dynamics that drive small-town relationships are the same the world over. * VAL McDERMID * A terrific debut about guilt, secrets and complex family dynamics - the writing is vivid & assured: Anna Bailey is definitely one to watch. * LUCY ATKINS, author of Magpie Lane * Bleak and haunting, Emma's troubled path to where the truth lies will carry the reader's soul along in both moving and compassionate ways. * Maxim Jakubowski, CRIME TIME * Brilliant! Could not put it down. It's utterly gripping and beautifully written. * KATIE FFORDE * Vividly captures a simmering atmosphere of suspicion and repression. * IRISH INDEPENDENT * Tall Bones is as atmospheric as it gets. Anna writes beautifully and it was so refreshing to experience a different voice - a stunning debut that delivers on every level. Reminded me of Jane Harper's The Dry. * RENEE KNIGHT, author of Disclaimer * Smart and compassionate, full of poetry and rage and shy hopes and shredded dreams and missing girls and family secrets and the dark, shameful underbelly of small town life. * TAMMY COHEN, author of Stop At Nothing * this debut ... heralds the arrival of a major novelist. * THE TABLET *