Little Darlings

February 11, 2019
In British author Golding’s haunting if flawed debut, Det. Sgt. Jo Harper’s supervisor admonishes her to pay more attention to guidelines and less to her gut, but the Sheffield, England, officer can’t resist going rogue after new mother Lauren Tranter’s anguished emergency call strikes a chord with her. Though the authorities write off Lauren’s efforts to persuade Royal Infirmary staff and investigators that a wraithlike woman has just tried to steal her hours-old identical twin boys from the hospital’s maternity ward, Jo isn’t so sure. That golden gut tells her Lauren’s superficially solicitous husband is lying about something—and then there’s the suspicious shadow on the hospital’s CCTV tape. When the babies later disappear from a park, Jo discovers striking similarities to a 40-year-old case. Though Golding overly lards her chilling plot with snippets from folklore about changelings, she skillfully maintains suspense concerning just how much of Lauren’s nightmare might be rooted in the darker recesses of her own mind. Fans of psychological thrillers will look forward to Golding’s next novel. Agent: Madeline Milburn, Madeline Milburn Literary (U.K.).

February 15, 2019
A new mother in England's Peak District faces a dire threat to her children from someone only she can see. Is she mentally ill, or are there darker forces at work in Golding's debut novel?Drowsing on the maternity ward with her newborn twins, Lauren Tranter hears a sinister voice singing. She's suddenly assaulted by a grotesque woman, who hisses, "I'll take yours and you can have mine." When security finds no sign of another person in Lauren's room, she's taken for an evaluation. Back at home with the babies, Lauren drifts through her days in a haze of sleeplessness and constant breastfeeding, barely leaving the house and receiving little help from her husband. When she once again reports a sighting of the strange woman outside her house, everyone assumes she's hallucinating. Everyone, that is, except for Joanna Harper, a detective sergeant who tends to follow her instincts and ask permission from superiors later. Then Lauren's babies are abducted. Maybe there is someone stalking her? But when the babies are recovered and Lauren immediately tries to drown them in the river, she's institutionalized, raving about how they are no longer her boys. While Lauren plots a way to get her own babies back, Jo discovers that a similar case happened 40 years before. Drawing on traditional folklore, fairy tales, and literature about changelings, Golding's novel will strike true fear into the heart of any parent. At the same time, the novel explores the fierce and desperate love we have for our children, written with beautiful intensity. And the ending, while ambiguous, skillfully walks the line between psychological and supernatural horror. Perhaps, in the end, the novel suggests, it doesn't matter where the threat comes from. What matters is what we will sacrifice to save the ones we love.A gorgeous, creepy, modern fairy tale reminiscent of Angela Carter.

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Starred review from March 1, 2019
As Little Darlings opens, a new mother wades into an English river with her twin babies, intent on drowning them. A woman who would do such a thing must be evil or insane?or is she? Debut author Golding spins a modern story of ghosts and fairy tales while also exploring the harsh reality of twenty-first century motherhood. We flash back to Lauren Tranter giving birth to her twins, Riley and Morgan. As Lauren struggles to acclimate to her new identity as a mother, a shadow appears in the hospital, intent on stealing the boys and replacing them with her own ghostly children. When Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper responds to her emergency call, she feels a connection to the case, but she can't convince her bosses that Lauren needs help. Both women must fight against a society that doesn't believe or trust them. Golding beautifully blends the supernatural with the everyday, keeping readers riveted to the page as they question what is true. Parents, particularly mothers, will see themselves in both Lauren and Harper.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2018

Friends and family pooh-pooh Lauren Tranter's claim that a woman crept into her hospital room and tried to replace Lauren's newborn twins Morgan and Riley with her own strange creatures. So surely they'll pooh-pooh her concern when the twins, quickly located after vanishing from her side in the park, seem somehow creepily different. A modern take on the changeling tale from a debut author; optioned by Free Range Films.

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