A missing boy. A missing book. A missing husband. A woman who must find them all to find herself …

It turns out I accidentally wrote a psychological thriller with The Mountain in my Shoe.  I never write with a genre in mind, I just sit down and set off, so it was quite a surprise.  This book – much like my first – was inspired by something I experienced; my time spent volunteering with children in the care system.  I learned that most of these vulnerable kids have what is called a lifebook, in which all their foster careers, adoptive parents, and social workers record their childhood, so that when they reach adulthood they have their history.  It occurred to me what an incredible way this might be to tell a story.  And so a lifebook forms one of the narratives in the novel.

The Mountain in My Shoe is published by Orenda Books. ‘On the night Bernadette finally has the courage to tell her domineering husband that she’s leaving, he doesn’t come home. Neither does Conor, the little boy she’s befriended for the past five years. Also missing is his lifebook, the only thing that holds the answers. With the help of Conor’s foster mum, Bernadette must face her own past, her husband’s secrets and a future she never dared imagine in order to find them all.

Exquisitely written and deeply touching, The Mountain in My Shoe is both a gripping psychological thriller and a powerful and emotive examination of the meaning of family … and just how far we’re willing to go for the people we love.’