Overview

She closed her eyes, knowing that the moment he had a name, she would be unable to pretend any longer that this child was not her son. Ever since an ominous palm-reading on her honeymoon, Frankie has suspected that her youngest son, Michael, is different. From an early age he sees things no one else can. As he grows up – academically gifted, a musical prodigy and with an unshakeable religious faith – his mother can no longer deny there is something strange about him, or that it frightens her. It is only when Frankie learns Michael is sliding into drugs and violence that she realises she can no longer ignore the past. But by confronting her destructive marriage and her own responsibility for all that has gone wrong, she begins to see there is something darker at play.

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'I devoured this truly superb and extraordinary book. A modern tragedy with such a rich tapestry and characters that got under my skin. I can't praise this book highly enough - it's a must-read that will haunt me for a long time!' Kathryn Croft, author of The Girl With No Past 

Author Information

Isobel Shirlaw was born in 1981. She has written for The Times Literary Supplement, The i, The Daily Telegraph and The Catholic Herald in the UK and for Bangladeshi broadsheets, New Age and The Daily Star. In 2019 she won the Fresher Poetry Prize and was highly commended in the Poetry Space competition. After studying English at St John’s College, Oxford University, she worked on the features desk of The Daily Telegraph (2003–2006) and as a political analyst for the British High Commission, Bangladesh (2007–2008). She later worked for Refuge, the national UK domestic violence charity (2009–2018), in which time she gave extensive media interviews (including on BBC, ITV and Sky) about the failure of the police to protect victims. Based in the UK, in recent years she has lived in Bangladesh and Egypt and has three young children. A Proper Mother is her first novel and she is currently writing her second, The One That Got Away. She also writes children’s stories and is finalising her first poetry collection.

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