Sanjida O'Connell

After many years of trying unsuccessfully to have a baby, Zoe and Ollie Morley apply to adopt a child. When they are approved to adopt a little girl from birth they feel that their dreams have come true. The baby, whom they call Evie, is born prematurely and, mainly because she was suffering from foetal alcohol syndrome, a legacy of her mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy, she needs to spend weeks in intensive care before Zoe and Oliver can take her home. However, they soon fall in show more love with her and are determined to deal with whatever problems their new daughter might face in the future.
Following this introduction, the story moves on seven years. The family has moved from London to Yorkshire where they are living in a house on the edge of Ilkley Moor; a new addition is two-year-old Ben, a naturally conceived and much loved “surprise”. They appear to be a perfect family but all is not as it seems. Although Zoe loves both her children, she is feeling unsupported and neglected by Ollie, who is working longer and longer hours, leaving her feeling like a single-parent. She is an artist, eager to complete a series of paintings for an exhibition but is unable to focus on her work as much as she would like to. She is also finding Evie, an imaginative, creative and rather intense little girl, difficult to get through to. Her daughter is acting in an increasingly disturbed and secretive way; is she just jealous of her younger brother or is something else worrying her?
When Zoe finds a card hidden in the hollow of a tree in the garden, addressed to her daughter and with the writer claiming to be Evie’s birth father, she becomes very fearful. He is promising to rescue Evie from her “fake” family, claiming that they cannot possibly love her as much as he does. Zoe is shocked and realises that the security of her family is in real danger. Her fears increase when she discovers that Evie has received previous cards and gifts from him but had hidden them. Although Ollie does seem to be concerned that the birth father has somehow discovered where they live, Zoe still feels unsupported, believing that his work remains his priority. Then Evie is abducted and blame and recriminations surface in a dramatic way as the parents try to deal with their disintegrating relationship as they search for their missing daughter.
This is a dark psychological thriller which taps into every parent’s nightmare about their child being abducted but with the additional fear faced by adoptive parents, that the birth parents will find track them down and reclaim their biological child. There were moments when the descriptions of the range of emotions experienced by the parents, especially Zoe, felt almost unbearable, and when the ever-increasing tension almost took my breath away. On the other hand, there were times when I found some of the scenarios described less than credible – particularly one when Evie appeared in a “princess” fancy dress costume which Zoe hadn’t bought for her and yet she didn’t insist on questioning where her daughter had got it from! However, for the most part I was convinced by the multi-layered plotting, even though I sometimes found the pacing a little uneven.
I thought that the author convincingly captured the way in which everyone comes under suspicion when a child goes missing, even the closest of friends and family, and how relationships are so easily fractured in such traumatic and stressful situations. The ways in which Evie’s thoughts and feelings about why her birth parents had “abandoned” her, whether the love of her biological father would, automatically, be stronger than that of her adoptive parents, whether Zoe and Ollie loved Ben, their “real” child, more than they did her, all felt psychologically convincing.
I admired the way in which the author captured the way in which Zoe and Oliver’s relationship was slowly unravelling as the story progressed and how Zoe’s search for psychological support led to her to making some unwise and irrational decisions as she struggled to reconcile her wish to be a good parent with her needs to express herself artistically. Although there were moments when I felt like shaking almost every one of the characters and often found it difficult to like any of them, they were all convincingly drawn.
I loved the descriptions of Ilkley Moor, an area I know well, and thought that the often dark and foreboding nature of the moor, especially in bad weather, was very dramatically evoked; it became almost like an extra character in the ever-darkening story.
Although the plotting is full of twists and turns, and one red-herring after another, by about half way through the story I had guessed who the perpetrator was. However, although I was right, there was a clever twist at the end which meant that there was still a surprise in store for me!
The range of issues in this novel would make it a good choice for reading groups – I’m sure it would provoke some diverse opinions about relationships and modern parenting! show less

I was a big fan of Sanjida Kay's first book, Bone by Bone, which was such an insightful and empathetic read that I couldn't wait to get my hands on her second novel, The Stolen Child. It centres around Zoe and Ollie Morley and their two children, Evie and Ben. We know from the beginning that Evie is not their biological child but Ben is, that often miracle child that comes along when all hope has been lost. It's not hard to imagine that Evie, as the adopted child, might feel as though Ben is show more the important child in the family, even though she is incredibly loved by her parents and treated just the same.

Evie starts receiving gifts purporting to be from her real father. At a time when she's questioning her place in the family, the consequences of this are huge.

This is an unsettling read with lots of tension. Being set on and around Ilkley Moor it is incredibly atmospheric and the wide-open spaces and being out on the moor, open to the elements, are integral to the feeling of underlying menace. Zoe gets involved with somebody who is very intense and the author manipulated my feelings really well when it came to that person. I liked them, then I didn't like them, then I was scared of them. In fact, I felt just the same as Zoe did and I think Kay put me as a reader right into the heart of the story.

The title is a clever one. Without giving too much away, it can be seen from two angles: did the Morleys steal Evie from her real parents or are the biological parents about to steal her away from the only family she has ever known?

I must admit that the twist did cross my mind but I semi-dismissed it because I couldn't see how it could work. It's certainly a clever one and as psychological thrillers go this is definitely up there with the best of them. Sanjida Kay is an accomplished writer. Her books are very much about the trials and tribulations of family life and how easily stability can be ruined in favour of turmoil and upheaval. The Stolen Child puts her right up there with the other authors whose books I will look forward to reading in the future. show less

It's a shame this psychological thriller isn't as well known as certain others around at the moment. It's an excellent read. Laura is a single mother, recently divorced and moved to Bristol with her nine year old daughter, Autumn. Autumn has just started a new school and one day she tells her mother that a boy called Levi is bullying her. We then follow them, in chapters told by Laura and then from Autumn's perspective, over the course of the next ten days as things get more and more out of show more control. It's a very worrying scenario, your child being bullied and it made me wonder how I would deal with it.

I found this to be a clever book in that it looked at the impact of Autumn's situation on Laura too, and how the parents of the other children in the school reacted. It showed how quickly you can be isolated and how quickly people can turn against you. At the same time, there were times when I could have cheerfully throttled Laura for being such an idiot. Without giving anything away, there are decisions she makes that were just stupid and careless but it would have been a different story without them.

Unlike a lot of books, this is one I actually talked about as I was reading it so it did get under my skin. I experienced a whole range of emotions and there was one chapter in particular that I read in bed at night which was very tense indeed. I really enjoyed this book and hope Sanjida Kay goes on to write more of the same calibre. show less

I'm a little behind with my Sanjida Kay books but having absolutely loved her debut, Bone by Bone, I couldn't wait to get my hands on her new novel, One Year Later. I have to say that I literally couldn't put this book down; when I wasn't reading it, I carried it around with me as if it was superglued to my hand. It certainly made a lasting impression on me and I felt incredibly emotional as I turned the final page.

The loss of a child is always going to be highly emotional and I found this show more story heartbreaking from the very first chapter when we are introduced to grieving mother, Amy. Amy and Matt's daughter, Ruby-May, died the day before her third birthday whilst in the care of Amy's family. For the first anniversary of Ruby-May's death, a trip to a remote Italian island is arranged for all but one member of the family - the person who Amy and Matt blame for the death of their daughter. Some members of the family think it is time to forgive but others want to keep the focus of the blame firmly in the direction it is currently pointed.

I love books like this where the characters have things to hide and maybe aren't what they seem. I felt a bit guilty suspecting them of covering up the truth as ultimately they are all grieving the loss of a little girl, but I knew that there was more to this story than first meets the eye. I really enjoyed delving into the sibling relationships between Amy and her brother Nick and her sister Bethany. The chapters are told from either Nick or Amy's point of view so you get a really good feel for the characters and also little discrepancies between their memories that really heightened the intrigue.

I liked how Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy is mentioned quite a few times in the book; it really seemed to fit into the story as the characters were finding their way through their own personal hell. Along with some great references to Star Wars, I was also delighted to see an Avery Barkley quote from one of my favourite TV shows, Nashville, being immortalised in print. Sanjida Kay is obviously a fellow Nashie!

Heartbreaking from the start and packed with emotion, One Year Later is an intelligent and engrossing domestic thriller. Sanjida Kay perfectly encapsulates the intense feelings we have for our family in her stunning new novel. A definite recommended read and a sparkling five stars from me.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less