Idle Grounds

The riveting debut novel

As always with these things it started with a birthday party.

On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt`s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest - something sinister that is watching them back.

The adults don`t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family`s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother`s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?

Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.