Penguin Books Australia

We all have secrets . . .

Jodie Garrow is a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks when she falls pregnant. Scared, alone and desperate to make something of her life, she adopts out the baby illegally – and tells nobody.

Twenty-five years on, Jodie has built a new life and a new family. But when a chance meeting brings the adoption to the notice of the authorities, Jodie becomes caught in a nationwide police investigation, and the centre of a media witch hunt.

What happened to Jodie's baby? And where is she now? The fallout from Jodie's past puts her whole family under the microscope, and her husband and daughter must re-examine everything they believed to be true.

Potent, provocative and compulsively readable, The Mistake is the story of a mother and the media's powerful role in shaping our opinions. With astonishing insight, it cuts to the heart of what makes a family, and asks us whether we can ever truly know another person.

'The kind of novel that will have you second-guessing your own reactions and skilfully exposes the troubling expectations we resort to in the absence of hard evidence.' The Age

'Tense and involving ... credible and accomplished.' The Australian

'A moving book that relentlessly hits the mark.' Sydney Morning Herald

Praise for Wendy James's other books

'James's sure hands leads us through sometimes harrowing, sometimes redemptive moments in her beautifully rounded characters lives.' Who Weekly

'A penetrating picture of our life and times . . . a knockout.' Canberra Times

'Cunning psychological portraits and clean prose make for an absorbing domestic thriller.' The Age