Hide and Seek

Meet Harry Pickles, aged nine and a bit. Harry is the fastest boy runner in the world (probably), first son of Mo and Pa (the best-looking parents in the school car park), big brother to Daniel (who runs like a girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star). His life is good. He’s premier league. At least, that’s the way it was before the school trip…Clare Sambrook’s unforgettable first novel captures with startling truth and clarity the perspective of a confused nine-year-old. Poignant and personal, “Hide and Seek” resonates with authenticity and a brutal honesty that manages to be harrowing, life-affirming and funny.

Reviews of Hide and Seek

"'Hide and Seek is one of those rare novels you thrust at your friends and say "Read this!". It's ultra-convincingly written from the view point of a nine-year-old boy but it's a very adult read. Wise and funny and searingly sad but ultimately heart-warming' JACQUELINE WILSON 'What a spectacular debut, heartbreaking and hilarious. This is one of those books you'll never forget' JILL MANSELL 'Shockingly visceral, yet at the same time surprisingly humorous, Sambrook has produced a penetrating account of the effects of loss juxtaposed against the human will to soldier on' BIG ISSUE 'Touching, sad and very funny' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Vivid and brave' LITERARY REVIEW 'It is hard enough to remember what it feels like to be a child and harder still to recreate a child's voice convincingly. Yet that is what Clare Sambrook manages to do with an impressive blending of style and pathos' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Fans of Mark Haddon would be well advised to seek this debut out' DAILY MAIL"