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A missing child. A shattered family. A mother''s love that knows no bounds... 1984. On board The Carousel cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean, two-year-old Robert vanishes from his cabin while his family sleep soundly beside him. Despite the frantic efforts of his mother Kimberly and stepfather Jason, he is never found. 2024. Lily balances a busy career as a psychotherapist with her responsibilities as a wife, mother and mediator between her divorced parents. Her older brother Robert''s disappearance has cast a dark shadow over Lily''s family her whole life. But when a new client, Zach, tells Lily about his shocking childhood memories of an imaginary ''other mother'', Lily''s belief that Robert drowned all those years ago starts to crumble. And she, Kimberly and Jason will soon have to face up to the truth of what happened on that cruise ship. Is Zach delusional? Or has someone known all along what happened to Robert? PRAISE FOR CARMEL HARRINGTON''S NOVELS: ''Warm, uplifting & important...a very VERY special book'' MARIAN KEYES ''Beautifully moving and uplifting'' CECELIA AHERN ''Storytelling at its best'' SHEILA O''FLANAGAN ''We defy you not to say, just one more chapter!'' BELFAST TELEGRAPH ''Beautifully written, emotionally intelligent & moving in the extreme'' DAILY MAIL
About the author
Carmel Harrington is a No. 1 bestselling and award-winning author from Ireland. Her novels are published internationally and have been Irish Times, USA Today and Kindle bestsellers.
Her most recent novel, The Stolen Child, was an Irish Times No. 1 bestseller, a Good Housekeeping Good Books winner, and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Crime Fiction Book of the Year. It was also a Sunday Times Best Crime Fiction of the Year pick. Carmel's next book, The Last Bench, has been chosen by the Reading Agency as one of their Quick Reads for April 2026.
Carmel is a regular on Irish television and radio, has been a guest speaker at literary events in Ireland, the UK and the USA, and served as Chair of the Wexford Literary Festival for three years. She lives in Wexford with her husband, children and rescue dog George Bailey.
