The Wrong Child

2017 | Fiction & Poetry

Of all the children to survive, why did it have to be him? A rural village school building collapses. Only one child survives: Dog Evans. To his own mother and father, Dog becomes a daily reminder of their survivor's guilt. To the other parents he is a hated and feared emblem of their unbearable loss. Now, seven years after the tragedy, Dog's parents have abandoned him. And with no one to protect him, the broken community's desire for catharsis and sacrifice soon becomes unstoppable...Uncompromising and powerful, THE WRONG CHILD is a heartbreaking - but ultimately hopeful - portrayal of loss and grief in an unimaginable situation. A must-read for fans of THE BAD SEED by William March, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson. Praise for THE WRONG CHILD: 'A startling and uncompromising story of grief and anger, of abandonment and decay. It's intense - darker than dark - but also original and beautiful' - HELEN FITZGERALD, author of Viral and The Cry 'Conjures up a mood of darkness, intense cold and moral ambiguity - one in which nature itself feels complicit in the actions of the people. Genuinely gripping' - THE HERALD

Barry Gornell (Author)