The List of Suspicious Things

A SENSATIONAL DEBUT FROM HUTCHINSON HEINEMANN IN 2024 ''What if we decided to try and find him?'' ''What on earth are you on about?'' she said. ''How are we going to catch the Yorkshire Ripper, when the police haven''t even managed to?'' I sighed. Her questioning my ideas was a recent and unwelcome element to our friendship. But it was a valid point. How would we catch him? We needed some sort of plan, a way of gathering clues and putting them into order. I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do. ''We''ll make a list,'' I said. ''A list of the people and things we see that are suspicious. And then . . . And then we''ll investigate them.'' The List of Suspicious Things is a tender and moving coming of age story about family, friendship and community. Sometimes the strongest connections are found in the most unlikely of places.???????

Autorentext
Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. Jennie is from a mill-working family, but as the first of the generation born after the mills closed, she went to university and built a career in the corporate world. In 2020 she left and began to write. She is now a writer and part-time Waterstones bookseller and lives in the Somerset countryside.

Klappentext

*THE NUMBER 3 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***

HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB FOR APRIL**

*A BEST DEBUT OF 2024 BY BBC, RED, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING*

'Such a fresh and interesting voice. You'll cry and you won't be able to stop reading'
MARIAN KEYES

'Such a beautiful story about friendship, community and family and secrets and what's going on underneath'
ZOE BALL

'Gripping and moving'
GUARDIAN**

'To read it is to feel that little bit better about life'
ELIZABETH DAY

'A touching paean to lost innocence and the comfort of friendships**'
THE TIMES**

'A beautiful mystery with heart'
**ROB RINDER

'This is a heart-warming book'
EMMA HEALEY

'A gorgeous, page-turning book'
I PAPER

'A wonderful story'
FEARNE COTTON**

Yorkshire, 1979

Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.

Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking.
Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don't.

But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families - and between each other - than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

THE PERFECT DEBUT NOVEL TO DISCUSS IN BOOK CLUBS

*READER REVIEWS***

'Left a lump in my throat and a hole in my heart'
'A book I won't forget for a while'
'A beautiful and emotional debut that I know will stay with me for a long time'
'A superb look at childhood, at growing up, at starting to see the world around you'**