by S. E. Lynes
Enough wanging on! If you enjoyed The Housewarming, I would really appreciate it if you could spare a couple of minutes to write a review. It only needs to be a line or two, and every review makes a difference. If you have questions about any aspect of my work, I am always happy to chat via my Twitter or Instagram account or my Facebook author page if you wish to get in touch. Any writer knows that writing can sometimes be a lonely business, so when a reader reaches out and tells me my work has stayed with them or that they loved it, I am truly delighted. I have loved making new friends online through all of my novels and hope to make more with The Housewarming.
Best wishes,
Susie
Can You See Her?
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What would you do if no-one was watching?
Rachel is afraid she may have done something terrible. She’s sitting in a room, being asked whether she killed someone.
She doesn’t understand how her life has changed so completely. When she was younger, heads would turn when she walked into a room. Her children needed her; her husband adored her.
But somehow the years wore that all away. She was so busy raising her children, looking after her parents, that the woman who used to be Rachel Ryder, whose husband told her she was out of his league, now quietly washes his clothes and makes his dinner, and can walk into a room without anyone knowing she’s there.
She knows that she thought: what would it take for you to see me again? What if I did something no-one thought I was capable of?
Can You See Her? is an utterly compelling and unputdownable psychological thriller, about how far you can push a woman before she will break. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, A. J. Finn and The Silent Patient.
The Lies We Hide
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The truth can set you free, or make you a prisoner…
Thirty years ago, Nicola Watson lived with her parents and older brother in a respectable suburb. At ten years old, she didn’t yet understand why her stomach tightened when she heard her father’s heavy tread as he returned home late at night, or why it made her brother Graham’s stammer get worse, or why one night her mother Carol woke them both, wide-eyed and whispering, and took them out of their home and into the unknown.
Now a successful lawyer in the city, with a life poles apart from her dark beginnings, Nicola has returned home for her mother’s funeral. But as she stands in her mother’s house, remembering the woman who sacrificed everything for her children, Nicola has to confront the guilt that she feels for leaving her family behind. And the belief that she played a part in the events that led to her brother going to prison for murder.
All Carol wanted was to protect her children, but escaping her husband was only the beginning of the story. And when Nicola learns the truth of what her mother did, it will change everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.
A gripping, emotional story of family secrets, and the strength of a mother’s love in the darkest times. The next powerful read for fans of The Silent Wife, Kerry Lonsdale and Emily Bleeker.
The Women
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And later, much later, the feeling she had the night she moved in with Peter will come back to her. She will remember how ninety-nine per cent of her felt so happy, so exhilarated, so in love. She will remember a much smaller feeling, a tiny one per cent in her gut. And she will remember pushing that feeling aside…
When Samantha first meets Peter, he takes her breath away. He is older, charming, sophisticated and represents everything she hoped she would find when she left her rural life in Yorkshire behind to come to London.
But when their whirlwind affair turns into normal domestic life, Samantha begins to fear that all is not well. Following the birth of their baby, she feels trapped and isolated, with Peter’s behaviour seeming increasingly selfish and controlling.
When Samantha starts to receive sinister notes – threats and suggestions that her life with Peter could be placing her in danger – she realises she needs to look back into Peter’s past to find the answers to her questions – and that she may not be the first woman to become his victim…
You can tell the truth about your life, but someone needs to be listening. Someone needs to trust you. And someone needs to save you in time.
The Women is an unputdownable psychological thriller for our time, a story of lies, trust and the risks women take in telling the truth.
Valentina
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When city girl Shona moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, she believes that all that lies ahead for her family is happiness.
But with Mikey working long hours away from home, the frightening isolation of the Scottish countryside begins to get to Shona. She feels lonely and trapped.
That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina. Valentina enters Shona’s life like a whirlwind, bringing excitement and spontaneity to replace boredom and fear.
Now Shona has the perfect home, the perfect man, and the perfect new best friend – or does she?
As Shona’s fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood outside becomes the least of her fears...
From Amazon chart bestseller S.E. Lynes, Valentina is an unputdownable thriller with a twist that will take your breath away. Fans of Gone Girl, The Woman at the Window and The Wife Between Us will be gripped.
The Proposal
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You invited him into your life. And now you can never go back…
Pippa wants a second chance. Recently divorced and unhappy at work, she has uprooted her life to move to a beautiful cottage in the countryside in search of a fresh start. But her new life is not working out quite as she planned.
One night, when Pippa is at home alone, a man arrives at her front door. And Pippa invites him in, and makes him an offer she believes could change everything…
How much of a risk would you take for a stranger?
Does everyone deserve a second chance?
By the time Philippa finds out the answers to these questions, it may be too late to save herself.
From Amazon chart bestseller S.E. Lynes, The Proposal is a page-turning and utterly gripping thriller about the lengths we will go to for someone we love. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Woman at the Window and The Wife Between Us.
The Pact
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You made a promise to your sister. It could destroy your daughter.
The Daughter
15-year-old Rosie lies in hospital fighting for her life. She’s trying to tell her mother what happened to her, and how she got there, but she can’t speak the words out loud.
The Mother
Rosie’s mother Toni has a secret. She had a traumatic childhood, and she and her sister Bridget made each other a promise thirty years ago: that they could never speak the truth about what happened to them as children, and that they would protect each other without asking for help from others, no matter what…
Rosie was Toni’s second chance to get things right: a happy, talented girl with her whole life ahead of her. Having lost her husband in a tragic accident, Toni has dedicated her life to keeping Rosie safe from harm.
But Rosie has plans that her mother doesn’t know about. She has dreams and ambitions – of love, of a career, of a life beyond the sheltered existence that her mother has created for her. But the secrets Rosie has been keeping have now put her life in danger.
The Pact
In order to save Rosie, Toni may have to break her lifelong promise to her sister… and open doors to her past she hoped would remain closed forever.
The Pact is a chilling psychological thriller about the lies we will tell to save our children. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, Apple Tree Yard and The Sister.
Acknowledgements
First thanks go, massively so, to my new editor, Ruth Tross, who saw what I was trying to do, knew that I hadn’t quit
e done it and valiantly set about helping me to do it. Thank you, Ruth, for your patience and sensitivity, your massive editorial expertise and for loving what we achieved in the end! I owe you a gin and tonic and a large packet of Tyrrells.
Thank you to my top agent, Veronique Baxter, for lovely lockdown chats and for the email that said OMG I LOVE IT. Always a good moment in a writer’s life.
A huge shout-out and really enormous double thank you to Lorraine Tipene (née Stephens… if you remember a certain family liaison officer in this very novel). Lorraine, thank you for your openness, for your time, your support, for beta-reading an early draft of The Housewarming and making sure I hadn’t messed up too badly in my portrayal of Jasmine Lovegood.
Thanks to my mum, Catherine Ball, who let me borrow from her fine art MFA thesis, explained the devil’s chord to me and helped me develop it as a metaphor for the horrible unresolved nature of Ava’s unimaginable loss. She also helped with Ava’s piano pieces and, it needs to be noted, did play the Moonlight Sonata for me when I was little and having trouble getting to sleep. She is living proof that you can be working class, leave school at fifteen and become a master of fine art at seventy-five. In short, a legend.
Thanks to Jayne Farnworth for fab advice on police procedural and for beta-reading a truly awful first draft – really, you shouldn’t have had to do that, I’m sorry.
Thank you to my local RNLI, particularly Paul Stallard and Jon Chapman, for providing me with valuable information concerning the river Thames and how and under what circumstances the RNLI is called upon. Book research aside, you guys do such an amazing job.
Thank you to the continually amazing team at Bookouture, particularly Kim Nash and Noelle Holten, the magnificent marketing duo, two phenomenal women, friends, and fabulous authors in their own right. Thanks to my copy-editor, Jane Selley, and my proofreader, Laura Kincaid, and a special shout to Jenny Geras, my former editor, who handed me over to Ruth as if I were a blown quail’s egg, and who is now Bookouture’s new top boss, woo-hoo!
Thanks to Tracy Fenton and all the team – Helen Boyce, Claire Mawdesley, Juliet Butler, Charlie Pearson, Charlie Fenton, Kel Mason and Laurel Stewart – at Facebook’s The Book Club, without whom I would never have met Lorraine, not to mention many other lovely readers who, over the years, have become pals – roll on Harrogate 2021, I say! Thanks to Wendy Clarke and the team at Facebook’s The Fiction Café, to Laura Pearson at Facebook’s Motherload Book Club, to Anne Cater at Book Connectors, Mark Fearn at Bookmark and Iain Grant at the Stay-at-Home Facebook book club. Thank you, in fact, to all the online book clubs and the people who gather there to share their love of reading. If I’ve missed you out, I’m sorry, that’s a mistake. I’m stressed about it even before I’ve realised I’ve done it, so do message me and I’ll make sure to give you a wave in the next book, which I’ll already be writing by the time you read this.
Huge thanks to flag-waving readers like Sharon Bairden (now an author in her own right, get in!), Teresa Nikolic, Philippa McKenna, Karen Royle-Cross, Ellen Devonport, Frances Pearson, Jodi Rilot, CeeCee, Isobel Henkelmann, Bridget McCann, Moyra Irving, Karen Aristocleus, Alessandra Nolli, Anne Burchett, Audrey Cowie, Alison Turpin, Theresa Hetherington, Donna Young, Mary Petit, Donna Moran, Ophelia Sings, Gail Shaw, Lizzie Patience, Fiona McCormick, Alison Lysons, Sam Johnson and many more not named here. Thank you. I read every single review, good or bad. If you don’t see your name here, please give me a shout and I’ll wave from my next book.
Huge thanks as ever to the amazing bloggers, who are unpaid and who work very hard spreading the word about the books and authors they love. I would like to thank the following bloggers, using their blogging names in case you wish to check out their reviews: Chapter in my Life, By The Letter Book Reviews, Ginger Book Geek, Shalini’s Books and Reviews, Fictionophile, Book Mark!, Bibliophile Book Club, Random Things Through my Letterbox, B for Book Review, Nicki’s Book Blog, Fireflies and Free Kicks, Bookinggoodread, My Chestnut Reading Tree, Donna’s Book Blog, Emma’s Biblio Treasures, Suidi’s Book Reviews, Books from Dusk till Dawn, Audio Killed the Bookmark, Compulsive Readers, LoopyLouLaura, Once Upon a Time Book Blog, Literature Chick, Jan’s Book Buzz, and Giascribes… Again, if I have missed anyone, please let me know and I’ll wave to you from my next book.
Thank you to the tremendously supportive writing community, particularly Emma Robinson, Judith Baker, Anna Mansell, Barbara Copperthwaite, Pam Howes, Patricia Gibney, Jennie Ensor, Carla Buckley, Joel Hames-Clarke, Angela Marsons, Zoe Antoniades, Eva Jordan, Vikki Patis, Marilyn Messik, Heide Goody, Iain Grant, Julie Cohen, Kate Simants, Louise Beech, Isabella May, Rona Halsall, Fiona Mitchell, Claire McGlasson, Callie Langridge, Tara Lyons, Paul Burston, Nicola Rayner, Emma Curtis, Lisa Timoney, Catherine Morris, Hope Caton, Robin Bell, Sam Hanson and my friend and first ever writing tutor, who always gets a special shout, lecturer and author Dr Sara Bailey. I will definitely have missed someone out and I am already sorry, but please let me know and I’ll shout you next time.
Thank you to my gorgeous friends – you know who you are. I can’t believe how many of you are still reading my books when they come out; you were only ever expected to read the first one.
Penultimately, thanks to my dad, Stephen Ball, who does in fact make his own pesto and bake his own bread and who is not a reader if you don’t count The Fisherman Magazine but who has made an exception for me. Dad, I am writing them as quickly as I can, and thanks for keeping me in rainbow trout over the years. My kids, Alistair, Maddie and Franci Lynes – thank you for being the best lockdown gang ever and for not coming into the living room when I was working.
Finally, and as always, thanks to himself, Paul Lynes. There’s no one I’d rather be locked down with, and yes, all right, if you hire a camper van I’ll come to the next music festival with you. Now don’t keep going on about it…
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © S.E. Lynes, 2020
S.E. Lynes has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-80019-082-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.