About this ebook
Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, this is a brilliant and timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind from Booker-shortlisted author Carol Birch.
Did you hear? Big landslip over by Ercol. Last night. The road into Gully's closed off. They found a body. Got police tape. All that stuff. They only do that for murder, don't they? Murder!
A body has been uncovered in a mudslide just outside the village of Andwiston. In the pub they talk of murder, but Dan – sometime mechanic, constant drunk – is finding it hard to sift through his jumbled memories. Watching him from the dark is Lorna, a lost soul living in the woods, haunted by ghosts and a vision from her childhood: a cold boy standing alone in Gallinger's field.
Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, Cold Boy's Wood is an arresting, timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind.
'A naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion' Guardian
'A haunting murder mystery, Cold Boy's Wood is also a double portrait of damaged souls' Sunday Times Crime Club
'Fusing the supernatural with the psychological, Birch's story is, at its heart, a human one' Big Issue
'Her prose has an irresistible vigour... Her words sing on the page' Financial Times
Did you hear? Big landslip over by Ercol. Last night. The road into Gully's closed off. They found a body. Got police tape. All that stuff. They only do that for murder, don't they? Murder!
A body has been uncovered in a mudslide just outside the village of Andwiston. In the pub they talk of murder, but Dan – sometime mechanic, constant drunk – is finding it hard to sift through his jumbled memories. Watching him from the dark is Lorna, a lost soul living in the woods, haunted by ghosts and a vision from her childhood: a cold boy standing alone in Gallinger's field.
Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, Cold Boy's Wood is an arresting, timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind.
'A naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion' Guardian
'A haunting murder mystery, Cold Boy's Wood is also a double portrait of damaged souls' Sunday Times Crime Club
'Fusing the supernatural with the psychological, Birch's story is, at its heart, a human one' Big Issue
'Her prose has an irresistible vigour... Her words sing on the page' Financial Times
About the author
Carol Birch is the award-winning writer of twelve novels, including Jamrach's Menagerie, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2011. Her first novel, Life in the Palace, won the David Higham Award for Fiction (Best First Novel of the Year), and her second novel, The Fog Line, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Born in Manchester, she now lives in Lancaster.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
