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1957, 2014: A mystery across the years, missing children never found…
1957, 2014: A mystery across the years, missing children never found…
November, 1957: Six teenage girls walk in the churning Derbyshire mists, the first chills of winter in the air. Their voices carrying across the fields, they follow the old train tracks into the dark tunnel of the Cutting. Only five appear on the other side.
October, 2014: a dying mother, feverishly fixated on a friend from her childhood, makes a plea: ‘Find Valerie.’ Mina’s elderly mother had never discussed her childhood with her daughter before. So who was Valerie? Where does her obsession spring from?
DC Connie Childs, off balance after her last big case, is partnered up with new arrival to Bampton, Peter Dahl. Following up on what seems like a simple natural death, DC Childs’ old instincts kick in, pointing her right back to one cold evening in 1957. As Connie starts to broaden her enquiries, the investigation begins to spiral increasingly close to home
Bampton may be a fictional town in Derbyshire but the descriptions of woodland and the deadly thaw of winter are enough to place you right at the heart of the rugged landscape.
A fascinating landscape really worth a visit and for a literary trail which lets you see the dark side of the English countryside.
Connie has new partner in this novel – DC Dahl who has transferred in from Glossop, a market town in the High Peak, Derbyshire. Glossop is about 15 miles east of Manchesterand is borders Derbyshire’s county borders with Cheshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
The fictional drowned village of Derwen plays a key role in the novel. Derwent which is only visible when the water levels of Ladybower reservoir drop. This is where the train tracks are, where six teenage girls a went to pass through a dark tunnel to Cutting Lane, but only five come out the other side.
Destination : Derbyshire, fictional Bampton Author/Guide: Sarah Ward Departure Time: 1957, 2000s
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