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In the tiny village of Westerbank in the south west of Scotland, the 1960s are not about rock'n'roll and drugs; they're about survival, making a bare living out of a struggling farm or working for a pittance at whatever job comes along. Nonetheless in this close community friendships go deep and the pub of an evening is a cheery place, at least until too much drink is taken.
Fifteen years ago, Joe McBride left Westerbank under a cloud, and in his absence life has moved on, the secrets he took with him disturbing only occasionally those who were caught up in them. But now Joe McBride is coming home, a changed man, and one who needs to face up to the past before it's too late. The truth about the mysterious death of a young girl fifteen years ago is about to come out, and nothing in Westerbank will ever be quite the same again.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherQuercus
- Publication date17 Oct. 2013
- File size1.0 MB
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Product details
- ASIN : B00ELIF2S2
- Publisher : Quercus
- Accessibility : Learn more
- Publication date : 17 Oct. 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1.0 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 256 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1848663152
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: 360,179 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 4,638 in Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction
- 15,214 in Romantic Suspense (Kindle Store)
- 17,490 in Romantic Suspense (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the authors
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
ANNA SMITH is an award winning journalist, formerly chief reporter of the Daily Record in Scotland, and sometimes newspaper columnist, with a bit of travel writing thrown in.
She divides her time between her homes in Scotland and the West of Ireland and Spain.
Her style of writing as a frontline journalist, covering wars and major stories across the world as well as major investigations in the UK and Northern Ireland, won her many awards, and she has transferred that gritty, colourful way of writing to fiction, bringing alive the characters in her novels.
The DEAD WON'T SLEEP is the first in a thriller series featuring journalist Rosie Gilmour. TO TELL THE TRUTH is the second in the series, and the third, SCREAMS IN THE DARK, was published in January, and will be in mass market paperback in November.
The fourth novel will be published in February 2014, and Anna is currently working on book five.
Check out her website on www.annasmithscotland.com.
Follow Anna Smith Crime Novelist page on Facebook, and also on Twitter.
THE very talented DAVID CRUICKSHANKS filmed this short video for ....THE DEAD WON'T SLEEP. Plenty of atmosphere and shots of Glasgow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZe90Hz1zN4
(see on the video section on this page)
'I'VE been travelling Spain for the past few months, and writing travel pieces for The Sun. You can have a look at them here.
COSTA DEL SOL
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4875559/COSTA-DEL-LOL-WRITER-HAS-LAUGH-ON-SPANISH-TOUR.html
VALENCIA
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4898291/Anna-Smith-parties-in-Valencia.html
CUENCA
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4967661/Costa-Del-Lol-Part-4-Gorge-yourself-on-clifftop-city.html
MADRID
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4916126/Costa-del-lol-Part-3-The-Real-Madrid.html
SEVILLE
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/5036988/Bullfighting-really-does-take-balls.html
....More to follow!
Anna Smith is an award-winning journalist who spent a lifetime in daily newspapers, reporting from the frontline all over the world. She has covered conflicts from Somalia to Rwanda to Kosovo, where she witnessed the plight of tragic refugees, genocide and hideous ethnic cleansing. She has also worked on major investigations, unmasking drug dealers and paedophiles, as well as reporting on the Dunblane Massacre, to 9/11, where she was one of the first journalists on the scene in both world shaking events.
She writes novels full time now, using her vast experience as a journalist to create the hugely popular Rosie Gilmour character, a gritty Glasgow journalist who tears down the walls of corruption and will stop at nothing to get her story. Anna lives between her homes in Scotland and the West of Ireland - and also in Spain to escape the British weather.
Her highly acclaimed debut novel, The Dead Won't Sleep, was the first in the series, exposing corruption and child abuse at the very top of the establishment, echoing real news stories that are being reported at the moment, even though the novel was published three years ago.
The second in the series is, To Tell The Truth, and takes Rosie on a terrifying investigation into the kidnapping of a three-year-old girl from a beach in Spain while on holiday with her parents. It's a fast paced story of people trafficking and
international child porn, and is set in Glasgow, Spain and Morocco.
Book three, is Screams In The Dark, is a harrowing tale of refugees going missing in Glasgow. When a torso is found floating in the River Clyde, Rosie is on the trail of international criminals from London to Belgrade and uncovers a network of evil. It's a story close to Anna's heart as she reported from Kosovo at the start of the war when stricken refugees were spilling across the border in their thousands.
Her fourth in the series, is Betrayed, where Rosie takes on the criminals in the Ulster Volunteer Force in Glasgow. It's a gripping story of cocaine smuggling, of divided loyalties, of love and regret, and ultimately of betrayal.
Her latest novel, A Cold Killing, takes Rosie on the dangerous trail of gun runners as she probes the murder of a retired Glasgow University lecturer. The deeper she digs, she finds that he has a dark past that leads all the way to MI6 and the KGB.
Next in the acclaimed Rosie Gilmour series is Rough Cut - a tale of two hapless prostitutes who find themselves on the run with stolen diamonds, and Rosie is investigating a story that takes her from Glasgow to the mountains of Pakistan and forced marriages.
Her latest novel, Kill Me Twice, out in August 25, which tells the story of a rags to riches supermodel whose early troubled childhood in Glasgow has been airbrushed - until she falls from the roof of a Madrid hotel balcony. Rosie is on the case and determined to uncover the buried evidence in a web of sexual abuse that goes from children's homes to the heart of Westminster involving high profile figures.
www.annasmithscotland.com
And please do check out the videos below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMbeuAw4fxo
https://vimeo.com/124814898
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Smith-Crime-Author/316438301802778?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
You can read more on www.quercusbooks.co.uk. And also on her Anna Smith Crime Author page on Facebook. Or on Twitter.
Also, you may want to take a look at her travels in Spain which featured in the Scottish Sun newspaper.
Check out her website on www.annasmithscotland.com.
Follow Anna Smith Crime Novelist page on Facebook, and also on Twitter.
THE very talented DAVID CRUICKSHANKS filmed this short video for ....THE DEAD WON'T SLEEP. Plenty of atmosphere and shots of Glasgow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZe90Hz1zN4
(see on the video section on this page)
And here's an interview I did with STV in the garden of my home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMbeuAw4fxo
'I'VE been travelling Spain for the past few months, and writing travel pieces for The Sun. You can have a look at them here.
COSTA DEL SOL
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4875559/COSTA-DEL-LOL-WRITER-HAS-LAUGH-ON-SPANISH-TOUR.html
VALENCIA
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4898291/Anna-Smith-parties-in-Valencia.html
CUENCA
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4967661/Costa-Del-Lol-Part-4-Gorge-yourself-on-clifftop-city.html
MADRID
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/travel/4916126/Costa-del-lol-Part-3-The-Real-Madrid.html
SEVILLE
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/5036988/Bullfighting-really-does-take-balls.html
....More to follow!
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Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find this book to be a great holiday read with a wonderfully crafted story that kept them interested throughout. They love the characters and appreciate the emotional impact, with several mentioning being moved to tears. The book receives mixed feedback regarding its plot twists, with some finding them satisfying while others find them predictable.
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Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable to the end, describing it as a wonderfully crafted story that makes for a great holiday read.
"...A good story with a good mix of ages. And enough twists and sub-plots to keep it interesting. A good light read." Read more
"...Definitely kept me interested and thoroughly enjoyed it to the point I was sad when I finished it!" Read more
"A heartwarming story about ordinary people, their guilty secrets and failings...." Read more
"This story is well written and easy to get into...." Read more
Customers love the characters in the book.
"Loved the characters and the way they were all brought together. I could actually visualise them and their way of life...." Read more
"This story is well written and easy to get into. The characters are interesting and the plot,though a little predictable at times,was believable and..." Read more
"...Good story, but a bit twee in places. Nice characters and coothy wee tale." Read more
"...The characters were engaging and endearing. Nice read." Read more
Customers find the book engaging, with one mentioning how it kept them completely immersed in the story.
"...I could actually visualise them and their way of life. Definitely kept me interested and thoroughly enjoyed it to the point I was sad when I..." Read more
"...writer and after reading all of her thrillers this was a refreshing and wonderfully crafted story of growing up" Read more
"This book had me captivated from the onset,though I did guess what was coming on several occasions...." Read more
"Enjoyed this book a great deal. There were moments of excitement, sadness and joy. Another great kindle app book! !" Read more
Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with some mentioning it brings tears to their eyes.
"Enjoyed this book a great deal. There were moments of excitement, sadness and joy. Another great kindle app book! !" Read more
"...was so easy to read, which made me laugh at times and then brought a tear to my eye, great for just chilling out." Read more
"...another fantastic book by Anna Smith.....so well written and had me in tears by the end. Must read.." Read more
"Really good book it will have you crying at some things lol at others ,magic book gem of a book" Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the plot twists in the book, with some appreciating them while others find them predictable.
"...A good story with a good mix of ages. And enough twists and sub-plots to keep it interesting. A good light read." Read more
"Just finished this book. Really enjoyed all the twists. Loved all the characters stories." Read more
"Some nice ideas and a lot of plot juggling, but a little too predictable and rushed at the end. Not very well written. But I did finish it!" Read more
"Once again another great book from Anna Smith. Good storyline and twists. Well worth downloading. Also a great value book." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2021I have read all this authors books and although this was very different from her other crime thrillers I thought it was brilliant.Brought back memories of growing up in the 50s and 60s.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 April 2014Nice easy read. Mentions of tunes and gala days brought back memories of growing up in the sixties. Had to keep focusing and reminding myself it was set in west of Scotland as it seemed to me more reminiscent of rural Ireland especially with so many Irish names! A good story with a good mix of ages. And enough twists and sub-plots to keep it interesting. A good light read.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2019Loved the characters and the way they were all brought together. I could actually visualise them and their way of life. Definitely kept me interested and thoroughly enjoyed it to the point I was sad when I finished it!
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2017I have enjoyed all the books I have read by Anna Smith but The Homecoming was not as gripping from the start. It developed a bit more pace towards the end but was certainly not her usual page turner. The characters were not quite as believable or as interesting as in the other books I've read by this author.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2017A heartwarming story about ordinary people, their guilty secrets and failings. I enjoyed Anna Smith's portrayal of the characters and how they change towards others when they come to understand a person properly. We could all learn a lesson here.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2014This story is well written and easy to get into. The characters are interesting and the plot,though a little predictable at times,was believable and full of description. Not a love story, not a mystery, not a drama, but a combination of all 3 . Just a great holiday read!
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2019Anna Smith is a spellbinding writer and after reading all of her thrillers this was a refreshing and wonderfully crafted story of growing up
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2014I would like to recommend this book to any person who likes a good read. It was a fantastic read. I was glad that it had a good ending and that it had several stories going on at the same time.
Top reviews from other countries
- Mark RayReviewed in the United States on 19 March 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars The Homecoming
This is the second of Ms Smith’s books before she turned to crime.
Like the first it involves children in an Ayshire village and their adult associates in the Swinging 1960’s. A place of no shadows or secrets. No safer place to come home to….or so it seemed….
Young Maggie, a local farmer’s daughter is walking in the fields when she finds a ragged man fast asleep. Terrified when he awakes she is quickly appeased by his smile then she learns he is dumb. To her mothers’ horror she brings him home for a meal and father Frankie, emerging from the barn, is equally concerned until the stranger manages to deliver a problem calf from a prize cow.
He proves himself in other ways and is taken on as a field hand and member of the family. But where did he come from ? Frankie is great friends with neighbouring farmer Tom, an ex priest whose brother Joe left for America many years before. Tom informs him Joe is returning home at long last but the latter shares a dark secret with Joe and both remain burdened by the guilt.
Maggie and her brother befriend another brother and sister, new arrivals at a local caravan park, sharing fun and games together. All in all an idyllic existence but the darkness lies ahead concluding in guilt, deception, forgiveness and tragedy.
“The Big Issue” described this novel as “A Truly riveting book” and it is just that. A worthy successor to “Spit Against the Wind”.
- Joan HossackReviewed in the United States on 4 March 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars The Homecoming.
I enjoy all Anna,s novels. Always written in a very believable text. Can,t wait for her next book due in a few months.
- Geraldine DohertyReviewed in the United States on 6 July 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book
Can't wait for her next book.