The Drowning Lesson

The haunting new novel from the author of 2014's stunning Richard and Judy Book Club bestseller Daughter

The press conference, one year ago

Our home is a crime scene now.

I am in yesterday's clothes. The clothes in which I kissed Sam goodbye. Then he'd belonged only to us. Now his image will be shared with the world.

We should be grateful.

'Our son . . . Sam . . .' My eyes fill with tears, the writing on the paper blurs. 'Someone took him. Please help us . . .'

I back away from the microphone, the paper falls from my hands.

The anniversary

The Jordan family thought they would return from their gap year abroad enriched, better people, a closer family.
Not minus one child.

A year on, Emma remains haunted by the image of that empty cot, thousands of miles away, the chasm between her and the rest of the family growing with each day that Sam remains missing. Is her son still out there? Will the mystery about what happened that night ever be unravelled?

Praise for Daughter
'Utterly gripping. A tautly coiled spring of suspicion and suspense which builds to a devastating ending' Mail On Sunday
'Complex and baffling. Jane Shemilt builds layer upon layer of tension in a novel you won't be able to put down' Tess Gerritsen
'Ostensibly a suspense novel about the disappearance of a teenage girl, this taut and thought-provoking debut novel explores a working mother's guilt, something all-too familiar to many of us' Woman & Home