Little Darlings

Little Darlings
Melanie Golding

‘Chilling story, beautiful prose. Little Darlings is stunning’ Clare MackintoshLeila Slimani’s Lullaby meets Rosemary’s Baby in the most unsettling book of the year.THE TWINS ARE CRYING.THE TWINS ARE HUNGRY.LAUREN IS CRYING.LAUREN IS EXHAUSTED.Behind the hospital curtain, someone is waiting . . .After a traumatic birth, Lauren is alone on the maternity ward with her newborn twins. Her husband has gone home. The nurses are doing their rounds. She can’t stop thinking about every danger her babies now face. But all new mothers think like that. Don’t they?A terrifying encounter in the middle of the night leaves Lauren convinced someone or something is trying to steal her children. But with every step she takes to keep her babies safe, Lauren sinks deeper and deeper into paranoia and fear. From the stark loneliness of returning home after birth, to the confines of a psychiatric unit, Lauren’s desperation increases as no one will listen to her. But here’s the question: is she mad, or does she know something we don’t?Loosely inspired by the ghostly folktale The Brewery of Eggshells, where a mother becomes convinced her twins are in danger, Little Darlings offers a fresh perspective on modern motherhood, postnatal psychosis and the roles women play. It has always been thus: folk tales do not spring from whimsy; they warn us and teach us, and speak to the fear in us all.

MELANIE GOLDING is a graduate of the MA in creative writing program at Bath Spa University, with distinction. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions. Little Darlings is her first novel and has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.

Copyright (#ulink_1b94569e-6a74-50b3-b658-cc60469192c9)

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

Copyright © Melanie Golding 2019

Melanie Golding asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008293697

Praise for Little Darlings (#ulink_ee0e6527-3805-5590-b611-5cf3802d15a7)

‘Chilling story, beautiful prose. Little Darlings is stunning’

Clare Mackintosh, number one Sunday Times bestseller

‘Dark, richly evocative, tense and thought-provoking. Taps into every woman’s fear thath she will not be believed’

Mel McGrath, author of Give Me The Child

‘Melanie Golding tells the truth about motherhood like no other writer since Sylvia Plath … It delivers on all fronts and will continue to rattle you, long after you have put it down’

Felicity Everett, author of The People at Number 9

‘Deep. Dark. Utterly addictive … Be warned – you can’t unread this story. It will haunt you’

Teresa Driscoll, author of I Am Watching You

‘A story that is in turn enthralling, creepy and downright sinister, Melanie Golding turns fairy tales on their heads in Little Darlings … A brilliant, heart-pounding read’

Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me

‘Little Darlings is brilliant – beautifully written, disturbing and deliciously creepy’

Roz Watkins, author of The Devil’s Dice

‘Riveting, terrifying and at times heartbreaking … Melanie Golding’s disturbing portrait of a new mother’s paranoia is superbly written, cleverly plotted and gruesomely beautiful in an unforgettable way’

Annie Ward, author of Beautiful Bad

Dedicated to the memory of Amber Baxter (née Fink)

1979-2012

Contents

Cover (#ub20ea494-ff4c-5595-a051-1359d6a11864)

About the Author (#u5ae2c344-9e15-55ba-9c14-ae8c51fcab50)

Title Page (#uf46d3cac-d042-5bca-9afb-3b732ab25721)

Copyright (#ulink_02ccc957-b1ee-5be7-b18c-d7c2b1242b83)

Praise (#ulink_d571206f-c091-5f5a-b1af-045bef7f6110)

Dedication (#ubba58309-22e9-5f3e-84f1-083712baedf2)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_1fbf7085-7f30-5206-ac33-b67636306165)

Chapter 2 (#ulink_f5acb8b5-e598-5418-bcfe-50b009e87022)

Chapter 3 (#ulink_b8ad6d14-710e-5d3e-9b52-a71b321df0c2)

Chapter 4 (#ulink_872998e9-310d-54d4-80c4-b348d7268d94)

Chapter 5 (#ulink_6792b9f9-52e5-5059-9c79-9ebff7e69814)

Chapter 6 (#ulink_6e48dd69-7eb0-56c7-a1a9-a5c7720f47e1)

Chapter 7 (#ulink_a7a8ba8f-57d3-52c4-b18c-f10d9d49fa72)

Chapter 8 (#ulink_0ce3400a-48eb-5906-a904-b53d4ea7c6b0)

Chapter 9 (#ulink_e35937cf-f81d-5a63-8fb7-69645f542eea)

Chapter 10 (#ulink_59ca0efc-636b-50e3-b117-87d9f70cdf85)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)