Hidden Girl

One cold March morning, a removal van arrives at Tornley Hall in Suffolk. Will and Hannah Riley have been waiting a long time to adopt, and Hannah is obsessed that this new ‘dream’ family home in Tornley, will improve their chances with social services. She has given up her career at a human rights organisation, and persuaded a reluctant Will to give up their flat in London. Yet as Will starts to commute back to work, heavy snow arrives. Hannah finds herself cut off from the world in this tiny, isolated hamlet. As she paints over the cracks in the abandoned old house, trying to ignore its reflection of the recent change in her once-happy marriage to Will, the house starts to reveal unexpected secrets to her. Rooms are locked. Intruders break in. There are strange noises and shadows at night. When Hannah witnesses an assault on a vulnerable woman in a neighbouring field, she starts to realise that everything in Tornley is also not what it seems. She has to make a choice. Tell the police, and risk her social worker becoming suspicious about the safety of Hannah and Will’s new home; or cover up the crime, to get what she wants. Hannah makes her choice. Then just as their social worker is due to visit to approve their new home, a shocking turn of events takes place that rips Hannah’s world apart. Before she knows it, she is alone, frightened, and trapped in a place where no one ever goes . . .

Louise Millar was brought up in Scotland. She began her journalism career in mainly music and film magazines, working as a sub-editor for Kerrang!, Smash Hits, the NME and Empire. She later moved into features, working as a commissioning editor on women's magazines. She has written for Marie Claire, Red, Psychologies, Stella (Telegraph magazine), the Independent, the Observer, Glamour, Stylist and Eve.

She lives in London with her husband and daughters.