Spilt Milk

The new novel from the author of 22 Britannia Road, Amanda Hodgkinson.

''Hogkinson''s second novel is simply but elegantly written, its subtle charms emerging as her gentle, bittersweet story shows history repeating itself over the generations'' Sunday Times

1913. Unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live an impoverished existence in a tiny cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk. Their life is quiet and predictable, until a sudden flood throws up a strange fish on their doorstep and a travelling man who will change them forever.

1939. Eighteen-year-old Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London. When she realises she is pregnant she turns to her mother Nellie, who asks her sister to arrange an adoption for Birdie''s new born daughter. But as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape the Marsh sisters'' shadowy past - and her own troubling obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them . . .

''This is a story that explores motherhood and sisterhood with great subtlety and power . . . with its strong storytelling, haunting characters and beautiful, supple prose, Hodgkinson''s fiction deserves a wider audience'' Independent on Sunday

''Spilt Milk is a refracted version of real life, that impossible mess we inherit and muddle through, yet transmuted here into something shining and meaningful, told in beautiful prose'' Financial Times

''A potent, moving story of mother and sisterhood'' Sainsbury''s Magazine

''A tale of sisterhood, lies and illegitimate babies'' Good Housekeeping

Amanda Hodgkinson was born in Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset and grew up in Essex and Suffolk. She currently lives in south-west France with her husband and two daughters. Her first novel, 22 Britannia Road, is available in Penguin.