A spine-tingling, evocative crime thriller´ The Australian Women´s Weekly ´An absorbing and chilling tale´ New Idea ´An atmospheric and beautifully written crime thriller that switches between 1949 and 2013, both timelines equally fascinating. Utterly addictive´ ALLIE REYNOLDS Almost every graduating class had a girl who disappeared. A decades-old crime threatens to tear apart three generations of women in this unputdownable mystery that will keep you gripped until its last heart-wrenching page. 1949 It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for ´fallen women´ run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts. 2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping to reconnect with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, but when an elderly nun is found dead, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered nearby, Frankie is desperate for answers. By the bestselling author of The Silk House, Kayte Nunn, The Only Child is an evocative, unsettling tale of past misdeeds that will have you reading with your heart in your mouth.