A Little Stranger

There is nothing wrong with Fran. There is nothing wrong with her marriage to Nick; they?ve been married for more than 12 years, since they were eighteen. When 'a little stranger', in the form of baby Louis arrives, their lives are irrevocably changed. Fran finds it simply unbearable to be all alone with a baby all day and most evenings, her old life merely a memory. There is nothing wrong with her little boy Louis; he has good health and a sweet nature. So, one day, Fran simply walks away, to start a journey to rediscover her own family. As Fran travels from London to Las Vegas and on to Vancouver, Nick is left struggling to cope with Louis and running a restaurant. A Little Stranger explores the pressures that come to bear on the modern nuclear family. It?s about how to be a good parent; how to escape your parents, and find them once again; how to grieve; and, most importantly, how to be happy.

About the Author :
Kate Pullinger was born in Canada, and moved to London in 1982 where she still lives. She is the author of Tiny Lies, a collection of short stories, and the novels When the Monster Dies and Weird Sister. She collaborated with Jane Campion on the novel of the film The Piano, and has written for film, television and radio. She is currently lecturer in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University.

Review :
Pullinger is an astonishingly powerful author who deserves the widest readership. A Little Stranger is that extraordinary thing: a mix of literary excellence and finesse combined with a very ordinary and accessible look at life In her short story writing, Kate Pullinger specialises in close-ups, her remorselessly lucid prose forcing us nose-to-nose with fascinating yet recognisable characters. Like a great photographer, she never tells too much, but leaves us wondering about her suspended, elusive creatures... Most striking of all, a young mother abandons her toddler to a tantrum in the organics supermarket and goes to the newsagent, where she browses in the magazines for a trace of her former self. It is a horrific moment, brilliantly conceived, set and written Beautifully written and executed Intimate, intense and absorbing, Kate Pullinger's haunting story about an ordinary girl who does an extraordinary thing - abandons her baby, her husband and her home and gets on a plane to Las Vegas- is as disturbing as it is subtle. Pullinger's characters inhabit a fragile, yet familiar world, filled with echoes of all our families: our parents, siblings, partners, children. Before you take the risk and have that baby, read this book.