'We caught the same bus from the same stop five mornings a week, and had never so much as smiled at one another. It didn't strike me as odd until the day she disappeared.'
Peter is a planning officer at Nottingham City Council. Every day on the bus to work he notices a girl who spends the journey scribbling in a battered notebook. On the day she disappears, instead of getting off at her usual stop, the girl waits and dashes off to the railway station instead, leaving her notebook on the bus. Peter picks it up and starts to read . . .
In the ensuing search, when the police are called in, Peter, having read Sophie's diary, knows more about her than anyone else. He also knows that the truth about what finally happened to her is a truth he must keep entirely to himself.
Taut, atmospheric and utterly chilling, 'Beholden' is a novel of lies and obsession, infatuation and its terrible consequences. It marks the stunning debut of young Nottingham writer Clare Littleford - a writer to watch.
