Paper Dolls

By: Lisa Bradley

Narrated by: Chloe Massey

You've never forgiven yourself for that fatal decision. Someone else hasn't either - and they're going to make you pay.

When Leah was editor of her local paper, two teenage girls went missing. One, Hope, was middle-class and White, from a perfect nuclear family. The other, Tilly, was a Black girl from a council estate - and a habitual runaway. Leah made the decision to put Hope on the front page, and she was found the next day. Tilly got a small mention on page 18 and was never seen again.

Sixteen years on Leah still blames herself for the consequences of her decision. And now strange things are happening to her. She finds herself being stalked by an unknown stranger who starts leaving paper dolls for her, cut from the newspapers she used to edit, and lit candles in her house and garden. These are the same candles Leah lights for Tilly in church every year as way of seeking some kind of redemption.

Her husband, son and friend Bunty believe the struggle of no longer working and the ongoing guilt over Tilly's murder are making her delusional. They think Leah is making the dolls and lighting the candles herself. Is it all in Leah's head? Or is there a far more real danger lurking nearby?

©2020 Lisa Bradley (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited