Whistle in the Dark

Reviews / Votes

A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. Utter bliss. -- Nina Stibbe This novel is a beautiful and rare thing - a page turning thriller with all the pain, warmth and humour of authentic family life portrayed. I absolutely loved it. -- Kate Hamer, author of 'The Girl in the Red Coat' Utterly compelling and insightful, I was drawn into this family in crisis from the first chapter of this unflinchingly honest and beautifully written novel -- Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of 'Sister' Healey is a natural story-teller -- Claire Fuller, author of 'Our Endless Numbered Days' I don't know anyone else who writes like this. Emma Healey's voice soars, sings and startles as she takes you right under the skin of her characters. She 'magics' the ordinary into the extraordinary and, just as impressively, transposes the extraordinary to the ordinary. Unforgettable. -- Jane Corry, bestselling author of 'My Husband's Wife' Many will relate to the fraught familial relationships, which are expertly realised in this tense contemporary novel ... the interactions are so utterly real that you get completely drawn into their world ... Healey writes with such an ease and naturalness that it carries you effortlessly forward * Sunday Independent * Written with captivating brilliance and oozing with tension, this is a novel you really do not want to miss * Heat, Five Stars * At once an absorbing thriller and a beautifully observed study of the relationship between mother and teenage daughter * Refinery29 * Rich with emotional depth * Evening Standard * Healey thoughtfully explores complex problems facing young women and families today and in Lana she has created a masterpiece of inarticulacy * Daily Express, Four Stars * An enjoyable novel about the complicated bonds of family life * Mail on Sunday * A sharp and sympathetic description of the whole strange business of and having a teenage child - and of being one * Reader's Digest * A sobering journey into the underworld of the human psyche * Irish Independent * Healey broadens the remit of the thriller...the author has managed a double feat here, creating a psychological thriller that meshes the homely with the gothic...the novel builds to a climax and the moving final sentence is formally and emotionally the perfect resolution * Literary Review * Quirky, humorous and entirely engrossing * Sunday Mirror * It's as gripping as its predecessor * Elle * Beautifully written * Good Housekeeping * A sensitive study of a mother-daughter relationship * Woman & Home * A gripping tale ... a deeply affecting account of one woman's quiet but unyielding refusal to allow hope to succumb to helplessness and despair * The Irish Times * I adored the forensic detail of Healey's writing and the wry, sharp take on millenial family life * Daily Mail * Authentically and empathetically written * Daily Telegraph * There's a winning irreverence to Healey's writing * Guardian * [A] satisfying, cathartic mystery -- Jenny Colgan * Guardian * A fast-paced, gripping read * Closer * Gripping * Bella * The achievement of this follow-up lies its finely drawn mother/daughter pairing and sharp take on the nitty-gritty of contemporary familial relationships...the desperate love of a parent for a child they cannot know is wonderfully true to life * Guardian * The novel's real strength, though, lies in its examination of such intimate familial ties and the incredulity that in a world of Google Earth, rolling news and endless online discussion groups, something - a mystery - could still go unmapped. And the conundrum isn't even so much where Lana has been, but how parents can connect with their children in such dilemmas, and how many of life's problems cannot be immediately or easily solved * Financial Times * Courageous...intriguing...entertaining * Observer * A beautiful exploration of mental health and love * Stylist *