Crime with heart
Everyday people in extraordinary circumstances
A desperate phone call
A decade of questions
A deadly race to the truth
A new heartstopping thriller to keep you reading all night from critically acclaimed Rae Cairns
Twelve years ago, budding journalist Geneva Leighton received a phone call that stopped her life in its tracks. Her terrified sister, Amber, was locked in the boot of a moving car and begging Geneva for help. Amber was never heard from again.
Trust no one. Your life depends on it.
‘This story wouldn’t let me go.’
Michael Robotham
'Fierce, action-packed ... A wild, original ride from start to finish.’
Sarah Bailey
'This taut, propulsive debut celebrates female strength and speaks to the extraordinary courage and resilience of mothers everywhere ... Brilliant!'
Anna Downes
She's protected them from the truth.
Can she save them from her past?
Shortlisted for BEST DEBUT CRIME FICTION in the 2021 NED KELLY AWARDS
Shortlisted for the 2021 Ned Kelly Awards for
Best Debut Crime Fiction
A fast-paced, explosive thriller from an electrifying new voice.
She's protected them from the truth. Can she save them from her past?
Sarah Calhoun is a regular Sydney soccer mum, but she's keeping terrifying secrets from everyone she loves . . . and her past is about to catch up with her.
When two men from Northern Ireland hunt her down, she's forced to return to Belfast to testify at a murder trial. Caught in the crossfire of an obsessive policeman, driven by a disturbing past, and a brutal IRA executioner, Sarah faces an impossible choice: lie and allow a killer to run free, or tell the truth and place her children in the line of fire.
With her family and innocent people at risk, Sarah must find the courage to fight for the truth. But righting the wrongs of the past just might cost her everything . . .
'Show me a soldier who would fight harder than a mother to save her son.’
The Good Mother Q&A with Journalist Melissa Doyle
NEWS
ABOUT RAE
Rae Cairns is a former youth worker who has turned to a life of crime… writing. She is fascinated with how ordinary people manage when faced with extraordinary circumstances, and the lengths everyday characters will go when all they love is put at risk. She writes crime with heart; thriller and suspense novels featuring everyman (and woman) characters.
Her debut novel, The Good Mother, draws on her background as a youth worker mentoring disadvantaged youth, many of them children of the paramilitaries, in Northern Ireland during the final years of ‘The Troubles’.
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REVIEWS OF THE GOOD MOTHER
THE GOOD MOTHER
BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
From questioning a mother’s instincts to learning more about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, The Good Mother raises themes and issues that are sure to lead to a lively discussion at your next book club.
RESEARCH
Sarah, the main character in my novel The Good Mother is a Sydney mum who returns to Northern Ireland to protect her family. In order to get an insight into the characters and settings, I used photographs from my trips to Northern Ireland and Bronte Beach, and even went to a range for target practice.
For more insights into the research I did for The Good Mother, including my photos from Northern Ireland 1997 and the inspiration behind the novel, click here.
Watch Rae do some intense novel research!
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