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Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time.

But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction.

**WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD** I love Idaho Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the TrainThis sharp, stunning debut novel and Irish bestseller about grief, loss and redemption is your next literary obsession One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time. But then Jenny does something unspeakable, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction, and leave dark unanswered questions for years to come. Unflinching multi-layered storytelling that is both beautiful and devastating Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry A puzzle that enthrals from the outset Guardian Hauntingly brilliant, this book will stay with you for days after you ve put it down Evening Standard, Books of the Year