PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Lisa Ballantyne was born in Armadale, West Lothian, Scotland and was educated at Armadale Academy and University of St Andrews. She spent most of her twenties working and living in China, before returning to the UK in 2002, to work in Higher Education. She lives in Glasgow.
Ballantyne weaves a fine tale of family drama, dark secrets, and the past's effect on the present...heart-wrenching. * Publisher's Weekly * Ballantyne has a natural gift for storytelling and the central narrative here is well-developed and fast-moving. She evidently cares for her principal characters, and, because she does so, readers are likely to do likewise. * The Scotsman * A sweet novel of love, redemption, and loss that chronicles one family's struggle with a difficult past. * Kirkus * Flitting effortlessly between past and present, this is a suspenseful, gritty and emotionally charged journey of an estranged father and daughter, exploring the strength of family ties and our huge capacity for forgiveness. * Mature Times * This is a subject that grips the attention like a vice * Daily Mail on The Guilty One * Thought provoking, brave and challenging, this book is an unsettling and compulsive read * Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of Sister and Afterwards, on The Guilty One * Sophisticated, suspenseful, unsettling, and highly recommended: a terrific debut from an author to watch * Lee Child on The Guilty One * One of the most readable, emotionally intense novels of the year, and a debut one at that. Lisa Ballantyne pulls off the key writer's trick of getting us to care about the characters; by the end of the first chapter, you will be comprehensively on the hook * Richard Madeley, Richard and Judy's Book Club, Autumn 2012 Pick on The Guilty One * Lisa Ballantyne has written a first novel that is both moving and suspenseful; richly detailed, yet with the eerie simplicity of a parable * Joyce Carol Oates on The Guilty One * [a] moving, insightful debut . . . It's easy to see why this caused such a stir at Frankfurt last year. If it isn't this year's Before I Go To Sleep, I'll eat my laptop * Guardian on The Guilty One *
