The Child Who - Couverture souple

'By page three, Simon Lelic's harrowing and haunting novel The Child Who has you utterly in its snares. A daring writer but also a deeply open-hearted one, he renders his flawed but sympathetic characters with the most tender of hands, heightening the tale's suspense and drawing us even closer'
--Megan Abbott, author of THE END OF EVERYTHING

`This is a gripping, compelling read, with the author bravely tackling head-on a subject which arouses incredibly strong feelings, and then taking a very interesting angle on it by looking at the repercussions on the defending solicitor. The public outcry and horror at this boy and his crime is realistically and effectively portrayed. Leo makes mistakes and has flaws, but he is a sympathetic character. He tries to get to know Daniel, and attempts to get to the bottom of why he has acted as he has, what has happened to him in the past, what of his relationships with his mother, father and stepfather? But is this approach futile? And what will happen to Leo's family, can they survive the mounting strain of this case and the media frenzy it attracts? A fascinating and dramatic novel, this is definitely one to make you think, and the author leaves you wanting more.'
--Little Reader Library

`Simon Lelic's third book, The Child Who, takes him back to the format that worked so successfully with his first novel, Rupture . . .Lelic's themes are always inspired by real events that have been in the news. Here, he tackles the murder of an 11 year old child by Daniel, a 12 year old. The creative inspiration is surely the James Bulger case and he acknowledges the creative debt to Blake Morrison's As If on that very subject. . . Of course the subject matter doesn't make for a comfortable read and it's a grim story, but it is a book that will have you gripped from the start. Style-wise, he tends to start each short chapter by making you uncertain of what is going on, and the numbered historical chapters are interspersed with fewer chapters that are told ten years later. But once you realize this, it isn't at all confusing. The short chapters and heavy dialog content ensure that this is a fast, gripping read. Simon Lelic is a writer to watch.' --Bookbag

`Lelic's third novel after Rupture and The Facility takes a hackneyed, supermarket-thriller theme - the "evil" child who kills - but approaches it so intelligently that suspicions of opportunism are instantly allayed. When Daniel, a quiet 12-year-old boy, is found to have murdered his classmate, the job of defending him falls to provincial solicitor Leo Curtice. Curtice is open enough to understand that abused, neglected Daniel is a victim too. But he has a couple of fatal flaws: unfocused ambition and a naivety so chronic that he simply cannot foresee the impact of his actions on his wife and, especially, his teenage daughter, who suffers terrible bullying at school. An agile, perceptive writer, Lelic makes the most of this, drawing us deep into the family set-up and employing two time-frames so that the grim aftermath is constantly in our minds. Could this be Lelic's breakthrough book? It deserves to be. --Guardian

A quiet English town is left reeling when twelve-year-old Daniel Blake is discovered to have brutally murdered his schoolmate Felicity Forbes.

For provincial solicitor Leo Curtice, the case promises to be the most high profile and morally challenging - of his career. But as he begins his defence Leo is unprepared for the impact the public fury surrounding Felicity s death will have on his family - and his teenage daughter Ellie, above all.

While Leo struggles to get Daniel to open up, hoping to unearth the reasons for the boy s terrible crime, the build-up of pressure on Leo s family intensifies. As the case nears its climax, events will take their darkest turn. For Leo, nothing will ever be the same again . . .