Tall Bones: The engrossing, hauntingly beautiful Sunday Times bestseller

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Tall Bones is as brutal, as bittersweet, as tender and as tense as first love itself.' EMMA FLINT , author of Little Deaths Whistling Ridge, the idyllic town with an uplifting community where everyone is cheerful and you get all the milkshakes you could possibly drink, on the house. You have your life all planned out and know exactly where you’re headed, the only worry being how much you’re going to miss those god- awful milkshakes. How lovely does that sound? 👀 None of the characters were very likable at all. Every single character in this book either knows of something horrible that has happened or has done something horrible themselves. The only reason I continued reading was that I kept hoping that something good would finally happen.

Tensions arise in town with the assistance of their dutiful Pastor who believes that if you aren’The author is not a bad writer, but this story and its characters were not well developed. I felt as if all characters were one-dimensional and the story just fell flat. An elegant, mesmerizing debut-Anna Bailey explores festering secrets with a with a sharp, yet tender gaze. This book reads like a whisper in the dark. DANYA KUKAFKA, author of Girl in Snow A terrific debut about guilt, secrets and complex family dynamics - the writing is vivid & assured: Anna Bailey is definitely one to watch. LUCY ATKINS, author of Magpie Lane

We’re introduced to multiple characters who are detailedly described are vivid elements of the town, starting from Rat who is living at trailer park to Noah who is working at the diner, vindictive Pastor Lewis who brainwashes town’s people’s confused minds, Samuel Blake who is Vietnam veteran, religious man, ruining the lives of his family members with his controlling manners and bottled up hatred! Bailey does a great job writing so that you picture the scenes taking place. The POV changes between the various characters which helps to move the plot along. It’s not a fast paced story until the climax, when it really flies at you. Anna Bailey writes like a dream about teenage love and lust, the terror of knowledge and the claustrophobia of families and of small towns.Tall Bones is as brutal, as bittersweet, as tender and as tense as first love itself." - Emma Flint

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There are many players here and may things that will be unsettling for some. This small town is full of gossip, racists, of bullies, rage, bigotry, hate, the haves and the have nots. The church with its Pastor should be a place of prayer, of rest, of welcoming of safety. But it is place of judgement, homophobia, blame, and so many other horrible things.

Anna Bailey's debut is irresistible, a compelling and nuanced psychological thriller suffused with small town prejudice and dark family secrets." - Paula Hawkins And overshadowing them all is an overpowering pastor who incites hatred, filling his congregation with tales of fire and brimstone. There’s a darkness that runs throughout the town, too – led by Pastor Lewis, prejudice and violence lies barely hidden beneath the surface of Whistling Ridge and hardly anyone is left untouched by the ripples that follow Abi’s disappearance. An intricate and compelling thriller, beautifully nuanced and wonderfully claustrophobic. Brilliant.' SJ WATSON, author of Before I Go to SleepSmart and compassionate, full of poetry and rage and shy hopes and shredded dreams and missing girls and family secrets and the dark, shameful underbelly of small town life.' TAMMY COHEN, author of Stop at Nothing It has long been one of the most important villages on the island and its clan was highly respected, until many disappearances weakened it and earned it the reputation of being cursed. However, since Ullan has taken charge at the head of the clan, things have changed. This ambitious leader knew how to take advantage of the arrival of the colonists to regain some of the splendour that his village had lost. Bedrí Abigail Blake is seventeen and like all girls her age, she believes she’s going to live for ever. Deep down, Emma believes it too, and that is why she leaves her friend there.” One of the most ardent religious followers is Samuel, who has PTSD and lifetime rage and violence issues. His abused and cowering wife ignores injuries he inflicts on their two sons, Noah and Jude. He takes his twisted religious wrath out on his two boys. Noah is discovering his homosexuality, which Samuel believes is a mortal sin against God. He dislikes the younger son because he has a disability, ignoring that the boy needs to walk with a cane after Samuel threw him down the stairs. None of his violence had been directed towards his daughter, Abi. He favoured her above the boys and his wife. Simmering resentments and long-held prejudices boil over in this beautifully realised evocation of small-town America. I I loved it. Kate Riordan, author of The Heatwave

Tall Bones is essentially about outsiders in a small-town community. It covers a whole host of issues and does so phenomenally. Within Abi’s family, a brutal history of grudges, resentment and dark secrets will have to come out into the light as her friend Emma refuses to leave any stones unturned in her quest to find out what happened.

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When Emma leaves her friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, beneath the stark beauty of the stars, but Emma will never see her friend again.