This Could Be Us

'So truthful and rewarding' Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series

'Brave, brilliantly structured, and beautifully written' Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us

Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating.

Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his.

Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reckon with what she did. The guilt and the love. The pain and the hope. In other words, family.

Following a fractured family over a period of twenty years, This Could Be Us is an extraordinarily moving story from bestselling author Claire McGowan.

'About halfway through this beautiful, expertly-stitched novel, I thought to myself, 'Every woman needs to read this book'; by the end, I thought, 'every human'. Moving, thought-provoking and profound, it's one of my favourite reads of the last few years' Louise Candlish, author of Our House

'The author's own experience of having a disabled sibling makes it an emotive read' Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month

'McGowan, an acclaimed writer of crime fiction, drew on her own family experience of caring for a disabled sibling to create a complex and ultimately forgiving story' Irish Times

'Captivating . . . A beautifully structured novel . . . As heart-warming as it is thought-provoking, the steady pace as the past slowly catches up to the present ensures you might be tempted to read just a few pages more, and more' Irish Independent

'So truthful and rewarding' Ian Rankin
'Such a complex and original take on the thorniest sides of families and relationships' Justin Myers
About half way through this beautiful, expertly-stitched novel, I thought to myself, 'Every woman needs to read this book'; by the end, I thought, 'every human'. Moving, thought-provoking and profound, it's one of my favourite reads of the last few years Louise Candlish, author of Our House
Brave, brilliantly structured, and beautifully written Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us
Kate and Andrew's family is torn asunder by the demands of a profoundly disabled child in this elegant, ambitious, beautiful novel. Louise Candlish, Daily Express, Favourite Reads of the Year
This poignant and moving story signals a heartfelt and thoughtful change of direction from thriller writer McGowan The Bookseller, 'One to Watch'
McGowan, an acclaimed writer of crime fiction, drew on her own family experience of caring for a disabled sibling to create a complex and ultimately forgiving story Irish Times, The Gloss
The author's own experience of having a disabled sibling makes it an emotive read Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month
Captivating . . . A beautifully structured novel with the complexities of family at the heart of it, This Could Be Us allows the reader's impressions of each character to shift throughout, as we are left to wonder what we might do in the same situation. As heart-warming as it is thought-provoking, the steady pace as the past slowly catches up to the present ensures you might be tempted to read just a few pages more, and more. Irish Independent

Claire McGowan published her first novel in 2012 and followed it up with many others in the crime fiction genre, as well as in women's fiction - writing as Eva Woods. She has had three radio plays broadcast on Radio 4, and her thrillers, What You Did and The Other Wife both went to number one on Kindle in the US and UK.

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