Fear of Falling

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What if the child you have longed for ends up hurting those you love? Lydia and Bel have been best friends for years, from wild teenage days all the way through to motherhood. Bel becomes pregnant by accident and has a fraught relationship with daughter Freya, while Lydia and love-of-her-life Mac, after failed fertility treatment, choose to adopt. Gorgeous toddler Chloe challenges them more than either of them had ever expected and as a teenager her behaviour escalates increasingly out of control, pushing their marriage, and Lydia and Bel's relationship, to breaking point. A modern tragedy. A harrowing and heart-breaking story of the splinters that can tear mothers and daughters, husbands and wives - and friends - apart. ----- Praise for Cath Staincliffe: 'Harrowing and humane. A real knockout' Ian Rankin 'It's always exciting to see a writer get better and better and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that' Val McDermid 'Remarkable depth ... The most grown-up writer in British crime fiction' Telegraph 'Complex and satisfying' Sunday Times 'Powerful, humane and moving' Ann Cleeves 'Emotionally unsparing, powerful, humane and moving . . . This is a timely, brave and brilliant book' Crime Review