I was so impressed with this book; I don't think I have ever experienced such a broad spectrum of emotions in one book. It seemed to encompass every emotion; fear, anger, sympathy, dread, contempt, empathy, embarrassment, hatred, vulnerability and guilt, to name but a few.

Alternating between chapters from the perspectives of Laura (mum) and Autumn (daughter) we read the feelings of a child being bullied and a mum who will do anything to protect her daughter, even if that means going a step too far. Laura has to live with the consequences of her actions and the resulting frosty reception from the school gate crowd. My heart really went out to her as the parents turned into a gang who were actually bullying Laura themselves.

As the book progressed, I felt an increasing level of hatred towards Levi, who was bullying Autumn. There was absolutely no reason for him to pick on her and I was positively raging when the bullying reached social media. Levi's father didn't help by taking his son's side and turning the other parents against Laura. I didn't think I would feel anything but contempt for Levi, but Sanjida Kay managed to cleverly turn my emotions around in a way that I seriously didn't expect.

It was actually a sobering read as I realised that appearances can be deceptive and nothing is ever quite what it seems. I have no time for bullies but I can now see that perhaps there is an underlying reason for their actions.

It's certainly an emotional rollercoaster and an outstanding debut from Sanjida Kay that is sure to be a big hit in 2016.

I received this book from the publisher, Corvus, in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Set in Bristol, with enough detail to (almost) make you want to get the maps out and check the footpaths.
It describes a bullying incident at school escalating into stalking, harassment and violence. The walls build up around the child at school, isolated from her peers and teachers. And then the mother becomes a victim of an extreme campaign of intimidation. The motivation of this person seems a bit muddled and I find the use of surnames quite jarring, given their ethnic origin. ( )

It's a shame this psychological thriller isn't as well known as certain others around at the moment. It's an excellent read. Laura is a single mother, recently divorced and moved to Bristol with her nine year old daughter, Autumn. Autumn has just started a new school and one day she tells her mother that a boy called Levi is bullying her. We then follow them, in chapters told by Laura and then from Autumn's perspective, over the course of the next ten days as things get more and more out of control. It's a very worrying scenario, your child being bullied and it made me wonder how I would deal with it.

I found this to be a clever book in that it looked at the impact of Autumn's situation on Laura too, and how the parents of the other children in the school reacted. It showed how quickly you can be isolated and how quickly people can turn against you. At the same time, there were times when I could have cheerfully throttled Laura for being such an idiot. Without giving anything away, there are decisions she makes that were just stupid and careless but it would have been a different story without them.

Unlike a lot of books, this is one I actually talked about as I was reading it so it did get under my skin. I experienced a whole range of emotions and there was one chapter in particular that I read in bed at night which was very tense indeed. I really enjoyed this book and hope Sanjida Kay goes on to write more of the same calibre. ( )