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Hideaway

A novel by Nicole Lundrigan.

Nicole Lundrigan

Gloria Janes appears to be a doting suburban mother and loving wife. But beyond her canary-yellow door, Gloria controls her husband, Telly, as well as seven-year-old Maisy and her older brother Rowan, through a disorienting cycle of adoration and banishment.

When Telly leaves, Gloria turns on Rowan. He runs away, finding unlikely refuge with a homeless man named Carl, with whom he forms the kind of bond he has never found with his parents. After they are menaced by strangers, Rowan follows Carl to an isolated cottage, where he accidentally setsoff a burst of heightened paranoia in Carl, and their adventure takes a dark turn.

Gloria is publicly desperate for the safe return of her son while privately plotting ever wilder ways to lure Telly home for good. Her behaviour grows more erratic and her manipulation of Maisy begins to seem dedicated toward an outcome that only she can see. The two storylines drive relentlessly toward a climax that is both shocking and emotionally riveting. (From Viking)

From the book

I could tell by her face. She knew what I'd done. The school counselor had said he wouldn't tell Gloria, but one glance at my mother and I was sure she'd gotten a phone call. When I walked down Pinchkiss Circle she was standing in front of our house holding a hammer and a piece of wood. As I got closer, I could see she'd painted a single misspelled word right in the middle of it.

THEIF.

I wasn't expecting that.

The whole meeting with the counselor had been no big deal. That was what I'd thought, anyway. He wanted to talk about the change in my "family structure," which meant Telly walking out on me and my little sister last month. Gloria had tried to hide it, but once our neighbour Mrs. Spooner noticed Telly's truck was gone all the time, everyone soon found out. "Rowan, I know school's almost over," the counselor had said, "but I want to end on a positive. You've been upset, that's clear, but some people do really constructive things with their anger."


FromHideawayby Nicole Lundrigan 2019. Published by Viking.

Other books by Nicole Lundrigan