Alison has lived with her adoptive mother for most of her life, except for a brief time away at university, which ended in disaster. In fact her life has been full of ups and downs and she is not the most gregarious person. When her mother passes away she feels lonelier than ever. She makes plans to change her life forever. She is unmarried but she considers that she can give a child a good, safe, secure life. She trawls the streets in run down areas hoping to give a neglected, poor child the chance to live with her. A forever daughter. A stolen daughter.
Her plans are meticulous. The collection of her little girl is faultless, without any hitches at all. Her rescue of little ‘Lucy’ is perfect, just as she knew it would be. Lucy now has a better mother, a better home, she is loved and cared for and she has everything a child could ever want. Alison has a beautiful daughter; they are a family at last. Her meticulous planning has reaped a rich reward. So their life together begins. But how will it all end? This is the story of Alison and Lucy, but be prepared to read late into the night and early in the morning – in fact every minute you have to spare.
I thought this novel had everything. The storytelling was seamless, vivid and cleverly delivered. The characters were brilliantly created and developed throughout the story. I felt as though I knew them myself, indeed that they were my friends. It was just perfect. I loved the issues within this story: loneliness, love, fear, friendship, need, family and mental illness. I absolutely drank it all in and wished there was more. I hated finishing the story I enjoyed it so much.
I received this novel through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher HQ in return for an honest review. Thank you for my copy which I thought was an excellent read. It’s a very well deserved 5* review from me because it was the complete package. Highly recommended.

Oh my days, fantastic book very sensitively written and a thought provoking read. I just loved the way this author described all her character and I soon found I knew them all personally. I soon got into the storyline as I followed Alison and Lucy throughout their lives.

A good ending but definitely the right one. Well done Diana I look forward to your next masterpiece and well worthy of five stars (wish I could give it more).

Read this in one setting,I just couldn’t put it down.very believable characters,brilliant holiday read,I give this book five stars

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book manages to be middling and yet creepy at the same time. The narrative is not well crafted and the dialogue does not reflect human thought or speech, but there are people out there like this in real life, and the book describes a very real threat, so the protagonist is more believable than she deserves to be. You could probably skip this one unless you really need something to read