Synopsis
This summer burns with secrets...
It is too hot to sleep. To work. To be questioned time and again by the police.
At the beginning of a stifling, sultry summer, everything shifts irrevocably when Lily doesn't come home one afternoon.
Rachel is Lily's teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily's best friend. The girls are fifteen - almost women, still children.
As Rachel becomes increasingly fixated on Lily's absence, she finds herself breaking fragile trusts and confronting impossible choices she never thought she'd face.
It wasn't supposed to happen like this.
Intoxicating and compulsive, Heatstroke is a darkly gripping, thought-provoking novel of crossed boundaries, power and betrayal, that plays with expectations at every turn.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
- ISBN: 9781472265609
- Number of pages: 320
- Dimensions: 236 x 160 x 30 mm
- Weight: 520g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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An addictive and powerful story
Heatstroke is an intense story set across a couple of weeks during the summer.
Rachel Collins is a secondary school English and drama teacher. When one of... READ MORE
A Marvellous Début
Heatstroke is an incredibly tense and compelling tale from Hazel Barkworth about mothers and daughters, trust and betrayal, ageing and coming-of-age and de... READ MORE
atmospheric
A story of obsession, betrayal, motherhood, womanhood set against the backdrop of an intense heatwave .
I didn't expect the book to be as intense and dark... READ MORE
A brilliant, intoxicating story
This is a brilliant, head-swimming story - beautifully written and totally gripping. No spoilers, but it unfolds in a really unexpected way
Stylish, provocative, compulsive, tightly-wound, complex
Heatstroke is a stylish, provocative story of a missing teenage girl; Lily. Unlike others of a similar plot, this story isn’t told by her parents, a frien... READ MORE
Psychological thriller for the summer
Mother, daughter and her friend, sweltering summer and secrets that can destroy friendships, families and relationships. Lily, Mia's school friend and stud... READ MORE
A luscious and gripping read...
This is a perfect read for a UK summer in lockdown, bringing the heat to your home regardless of the British weather. The interwoven stories and setting fa... READ MORE
Couldn't put it down - a masterful summer sizzler
Totally gripped from beginning to end. I enjoyed so much getting immersed in Rachel’s thoughts, feelings and actions - in all of their complexity. The auth... READ MORE
Explores complex female friendships
Hazel Barkworth builds a slow, evolving tension in Heatstroke. A tension that is felt between Rachel - the central character and her daughter Mia, with her... READ MORE