Seldom Seen

SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS’ CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2013LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2013 AND THE 2013 NEW ANGLE PRIZE FOR LITERATUREA mesmerising debut set in Suffolk in the 1980s - the story of a young girl’s awakening to the cruelty of the world

Desiree White was walking through the fields of winter wheat and oilseed rape when she saw it.

She picked the newspaper bundle out of the ditch and took it to the phone box.

Across the baby’s tiny body she could see a faint tattoo of Lady Di’s face where some of the newsprint had rubbed off. It was like finding a featherless bird fallen out of its nest.

No-one had ever bothered much about Desiree but now everyone is interested in her, in what she saw, in who the parents might be and why they’d dump a baby.

As years go by and everyone else moves on with their lives, Desiree feels stuck, unable to forget what she saw that day. But when she starts to make connections which bring the truth dangerously close to home, it seems that some secrets are best left alone.