Girl in Snow

As morning dawns in a sleepy Colorado suburb, a dusting of snow covers high-school freshman Lucinda Hayes's dead body on a playground carousel. Accusations spread quickly and Lucinda's tragic death draws three outsiders from the shadows.

Oddball Cameron Whitley loved - still loves - Lucinda. Though they've hardly ever spoken, and any sensible onlooker would call him Lucinda's stalker, Cameron is convinced that he knows her better than anyone. Completely untethered by the news of her death, Cameron's erratic behaviour provides the town ample reason to suspect that he's the killer.

Jade Dixon-Burns hates Lucinda. Lucinda took everything from her. The worst part was Lucinda's blissful ignorance to the damage she'd wrought.

Officer Russ Fletcher doesn't know Lucinda, but he knows the kid everyone is talking about, the boy who may have killed her. Cameron Whitley is his ex-partner's son. Now Russ must take a painful journey through the past to solve Lucinda's murder and keep a promise he made long ago.

By:   Danya Kukafka
Imprint:   Picador
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 197mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 24mm
Weight:   264g
ISBN:   9781509829965
ISBN 10:   1509829962
Series:   My First Touch and Find
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   September 2018
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Danya Kukafka is a graduate of New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Girl in Snow is her first novel.

This brooding and intense thriller will plunge readers into a dark world they may not want to enter - but they may be unable to tear themselves free * Booklist * Written with raw immediacy, each character is complex, aching and ashamed, for different reasons . . . a quietly taut thriller concerned with the secrets we keep from our closest loved-ones and even from ourselves . . . keeps hold of the reader long after the final denouement * Shelf Awareness * Elegiac and involving . . . engagingly told . . . its endearing characters' struggles linger in memory after this affecting work is done * Wall Street Journal * `A propulsive mystery set in a suburban community marked by unsettling voyeurism. Danya Kukafka patiently reveals layers of her characters' inner lives - their ugliness and vulnerabilities - in prose that sparkles and wounds. I couldn't put this one down' -- Brit Bennett, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Mothers</i> A haunting, lyrical novel about love, loss, and terror . . . The world Kukafka so masterfully creates is suspenseful and electrifying; I was willing to follow her wherever she took me' -- Anton DiSclafani, author of <i>The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls </i> An intricate, seductive murder mystery, in which a single awful crime exposes conflicts and traumas in an entire community . . . Girl in Snow is not just an impressive debut but one of the best literary mysteries to come along in some time * BookPage * Kuafka's bewitching first novel spins a spell of mournful confessions around a Twin Peaks-like centerpiece. In [her] capable hands, villainy turns out to be everywhere and nowhere, a DNA that could be found under the fingernails of everybody's hands * New York Times (Editor's Choice) * With a knack for writing oh-so-real teenage characters and underline-worthy prose, [Kukafka] weaves a tale of voyeurism and obsession that's impossible to put down * W Magazine * Captivating * Marie Claire * A creepy, psychological drama set in a snowbound Colorado high school * GQ * A dark and elegant thriller set in small-town America * Mail on Sunday * A sensational debut - great characters, mysteries within mysteries, and page-turning pace. Highly recommended -- Lee Child, bestselling author of the <i>Jack Reacher </i>series Stark, utterly compulsive with a compelling, unique writing style. This thriller blew me away -- Kate Hamer, author of <i>The Girl in the Red Coat</i> A perfectly paced and tautly plotted thriller. Danya Kukafka's misfit characters are richly drawn, her prose is both elegant and eerie - this is an incredibly accomplished debut -- Paula Hawkins, author of The <i>Girl on the Train</i> and <i>Into the Water </i>

• Long-listed for Big Book Awards: Crime Award 2018 (UK)
• Long-listed for CWA New Blood Dagger 2018 (UK)
• Short-listed for Big Book Awards: Crime Award 2018 (UK)
• Short-listed for CWA New Blood Dagger 2018 (UK)
• Winner of Big Book Awards: Crime Award 2018 (UK)