The Blamed

(Paperback)

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'Insightful and astute writing ... Emily Hourican has a wonderful understanding of human nature' Louise O'Neill

The summer she turned twenty-five, Anna felt invincible.

In love for the first time, in a strange city far from home, she could be a new person. All that she had ever wanted was there for the taking. But the glorious possibility of those long sultry days ended in a reality far starker than she could have imagined.

Now, fifteen years later, Anna is struggling to get through to her teenage daughter Jessie -- named in memory of Anna's best friend -- who has developed an eating disorder. Mother and daughter were once close, but now Anna feels as if Jessie's every word and action is a mystery. Though sometimes she wonders if Jessie can see right through her.

And when her daughter starts to report dreams about the namesake she never met, Anna -- increasingly unnerved by just how much her daughter seems to know -- is forced to face the secrets of that summer when her life changed in one unravelling moment, and the brutal truth about the part she had to play.

Reviews

Skilful, evocative and moving ... This is one of those books that stays with you after you've read it - Sinead Moriarty

Part psychological thriller, part literary family drama, part sun-soaked nostalgic noir and a must-read - Sunday Independent

Praise for Emily Hourican - :

[A] lively and entertaining saga of friendship, family and fate - Sunday Independent

[Hourican] has perfected the high-wire feat between lush description and keeping the plot shuttling along at a pleasing pace ... As with most great writing, The Privileged packs plenty of truth and social commentary beneath its story - Irish Independent

You won't be able to put it down - Stellar magazine

Vibrant characters, finely-observed social backdrops and universal themes of love, friendship and survival ... The Privileged is well-written, thoughtful commercial fiction that tells a compelling story ... A Circle of Friends for the 21st century - Irish Times

Author Bio

Emily Hourican is a journalist and author. She has written features for the Sunday Independent for fifteen years, as well as Image magazine, Conde Nast Traveler and Woman and Home. She was also editor of The Dubliner Magazine.

Emily's first book, a memoir titled How To (Really) Be A Mother was published in 2013. She is also the author of novels The Privileged, White Villa, The Outsider and The Blamed, as well as two bestselling novels about the Guinness sisters: The Glorious Guinness Girls and The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal.

She lives in Dublin with her family.