The Other Half Lives

Why would anyone confess to the murder of someone who isn't dead

Ruth Bussey knows what it means to be in the wrong and to be wronged. She once did something she regrets, and her punishment nearly destroyed her. Now Ruth is rebuilding her life, and has found a love she doesn't believe she deserves: Aidan Seed. Aidan is also troubled by a past he hates to talk about, until one day he decides he must confide in Ruth. He tells her that years ago he killed someone: a woman called Mary Trelease.

Ruth is confused. She's certain she's heard the name before, and when she realises why it sounds familiar, her fear and confusion deepen - because the Mary Trelease that Ruth knows is very much alive . . .

Short-listed for Independent Booksellers' Week Book of the Year Award: Adults' Book of the Year 2010

“'This utterly gripping thriller should establish her as one of the great unmissables of this genre - intelligent, classy and with a wonderfully Gothic imagination'”

This utterly gripping thriller should establish her as one of the great unmissables of this genre - intelligent, classy and with a wonderfully Gothic imagination - The Times on THE OTHER HALF LIVES

Sophie Hannah is very very good at setting things up and moving on - a chunky book you'll get through in no time - Evening Standard

A masterclass in plotting that adds twist after twist in a hectic finale - Sunday Times on THE OTHER HALF LIVES

Beautifully written and precision-engineered to unsettle - Guardian on THE OTHER HALF LIVES

The interest of any crime or thriller fan will be piqued by Hannah's early chapters, but even the most Machiavellian-minded will be confounded by the serpentine twists of her audacious plotting. - Independent on THE OTHER HALF LIVES

Hannah brings us spectacularly sinister characters and throws them into some wincingly creepy dilemmas - Independent on Sunday, Books of the Year

This book is long but never tedious, and, as with the finest examples of the genre, Hannah refuses to allow the reader any hope of predicting how it will all end until she decides to put the final piece of the jigsaw in place - Daily Express on THE OTHER HALF LIVES

It's a difficult tightrope to walk but Hannah does it triumphantly, maintaining the tension until the very end - Val McDermid, The Times

Sophie Hannah is a bestselling crime fiction writer and poet. Her psychological thrillers Little Face, Hurting Distance, The Point of Rescue, The Other Half Lives, A Room Swept White, Lasting Damage and Kind of Cruel have received critical acclaim and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Sophie's books have been listed for multiple industry awards. Little Face was longlisted for the 2007 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the IMPAC Award, Hurting Distance was longlisted for the 2008 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, and The Other Half Lives was shortlisted for the Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year Award and a Barry Award. The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives have been adapted for television as Case Sensitive, starring Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd.

Sophie's fifth collection of poetry, Pessimism for Beginners, was the Poetry Book Society's Winter Choice in 2007 and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Award, and in 2004 she won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her psychological suspense story The Octopus Nest. Sophie's poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the UK.

From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is currently a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children.

Visit Sophie's website, , and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/sophiehannahCB1

Why would anyone confess to the murder of someone who isn't dead Ruth Bussey knows what it means to be in the wrong and to be wronged. She once did something she regrets, and her punishment nearly destroyed her. Now Ruth is rebuilding her life, and has found a love she doesn't believe she deserves: Aidan Seed. Aidan is also troubled by a past he hates to talk about, until one day he decides he must confide in Ruth. He tells her that years ago he killed someone: a woman called Mary Trelease.Ruth is confused. She's certain she's heard the name before, and when she realises why it sounds familiar, her fear and confusion deepen - because the Mary Trelease that Ruth knows is very much alive . . .

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