The Hollow Girl

HARROWFORD HALL
A safe haven for lost girls? Or a breeding ground for revenge?

It’s 1973 and, after twelve years as a cop, Detective Sergeant Eleanor Smith is finally assigned her first homicide case. A woman’s body has been discovered at Harrowford Hall, a home for unmarried mothers deep in the Victorian countryside.

But when Eleanor arrives at the decidedly creepy home, she finds it all but deserted. What’s more, the home’s overgrown graveyard suggests the apparent poisoning of Nurse Chapman is not Harrowford’s first suspicious death . . .

Led by the formidable Mrs Montague, Harrowford has for decades sold itself as a refuge for ‘fallen girls’ - like fourteen-year-old Jane McEvoy, banished there in 1961 with no idea of how she ended up pregnant. Or like newest resident Marilyn Pollard, who is desperate to escape.

However, what the staff at the home failed to realise is that young girls who’ve been wronged can grow up to be angry women . . .

'The Hollow Girl is a haunting mystery, observed with moral clarity and a scalpel-sharp pen. Once again, Yeowart imbues a gripping crime narrative with literary sensibility, and the result is one of the best crime novels I’ve read in years.' JP POMARE, author of The Wrong Woman

'An expansive and vivid story that wells up from a dark place in history. A tale of lies and betrayal that will make you angry and keep you up at night. Lyn Yeowart is a writer to be reckoned with and this story grabbed me from the opening scene. You need to read it – now!' HAYLEY SCRIVENOR, internationally bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling
'Fiendishly clever and wonderfully original, The Hollow Girl reveals a sordid world swept under history's carpet. This is a fantastic follow-up to the triumph of The Silent Listener, full of compelling characters and startling plot twists.' ASHLEY KALAGIAN BLUNT, author of Dark Mode

'The Hollow Girl is as compelling as it is shocking. Lyn Yeowart breathes such startling life into this remarkable story, it’s impossible to put down – and will keep you guessing all the way to its unpredictable ending.' GLENNA THOMSON, author of Gone
'Yeowart delivers a gothic gut-punch of a novel — haunting, twisted, and fiercely intelligent. The Hollow Girl gives voice to a generation of women denied one. Brave, brutal, and impossible to ignore.' R.W.R. MCDONALD, author of The Nancys