A Crying Shame

Then on a family holiday in Scotland, a tragic accident occurs for which Christine blames herself, and panic-stricken, she runs away with her four-year-old brother, and hides in the back of a stranger's car.

Agnes Stam is an elderly Dutch spinster, making her annual summer pilgrimage to her family's holiday cottage on Mull.

A chilling and disturbing novel in which family represents the heart of darkness.

Stark and gently funny, this is a tragic and lovely novel.

Reading the Dutch novelist Renate Dorrestein is an infallible reminder of how rare it is to find a gripping story about the old and the very young ... an effectively touching translation of a tale of three disregarded nobodies.

Her novels read like film scripts...psychological thrillers in which what's most to be feared is closest to home...painfully cutting, and surprisingly funny...a truly courageous writer.

Gripping and unexpected, dramatic yet understated ... well-crafted, moving and compelling tale.

'Something terrible has happened ... But there are also some very funny moments ... the pace and energy of which is compelling, owing to Hester Velmans's fine translation.'

Renate Dorrestein is one of Holland's best-loved novelists. Her books regularly win prizes and appear at the top of the Dutch bestseller lists. A Heart of Stone and Without Mercy, her previous novels published in English, are published by Black Swan as is her latest novel, A Crying Shame.

.Hester Velman's translation of A Heart of Stone won the Vondel Prize for Translation in 2001.