2026 ILP John Creasey First Novel (longlist)
*A New York Times Best Thriller *
‘Atmospheric, disturbing and beautifully evoked’ – Daily Mail
‘Page-turning . . . I absolutely loved this’ – Liane Moriarty, bestselling author of Here One Moment
‘Riveting . . . it held me captive’ – Hannah Kent, bestselling author of Devotion
In the past, we had always spent our summer holidays in remote places. That had always been my mother’s preference. This year was different . . .
Ten-year-old Alex thought this holiday would be fun, but now everyone in her family is being boring. Her mother needs to finish her novel, her dad wants to watch cricket and her older sister only has eyes for the local lifeguard.
Then her new friend, Kahu, tells her a secret. Two years ago, a girl went missing and everyone said she drowned. But what if the adults are wrong? What if she’s waiting to be found?
As Alex and Kahu hunt for clues, childhood curiosity soon gives way to a darker reality. As the summer heat peaks, one terrifying question remains: did the missing girl really drown, or is a predator hiding in plain sight?
Brilliantly page-turning and tensely atmospheric, A Beautiful Family will leave a lump in your throat and a hole in your heart.
‘Immersive . . . Alix grasps at the truth of things, but her perspective means only the reader parses the more adult story unravelling around her . . . as the underlying narratives coalesce’ – The Guardian
Genre: Mystery
‘Atmospheric, disturbing and beautifully evoked’ – Daily Mail
‘Page-turning . . . I absolutely loved this’ – Liane Moriarty, bestselling author of Here One Moment
‘Riveting . . . it held me captive’ – Hannah Kent, bestselling author of Devotion
In the past, we had always spent our summer holidays in remote places. That had always been my mother’s preference. This year was different . . .
Ten-year-old Alex thought this holiday would be fun, but now everyone in her family is being boring. Her mother needs to finish her novel, her dad wants to watch cricket and her older sister only has eyes for the local lifeguard.
Then her new friend, Kahu, tells her a secret. Two years ago, a girl went missing and everyone said she drowned. But what if the adults are wrong? What if she’s waiting to be found?
As Alex and Kahu hunt for clues, childhood curiosity soon gives way to a darker reality. As the summer heat peaks, one terrifying question remains: did the missing girl really drown, or is a predator hiding in plain sight?
Brilliantly page-turning and tensely atmospheric, A Beautiful Family will leave a lump in your throat and a hole in your heart.
‘Immersive . . . Alix grasps at the truth of things, but her perspective means only the reader parses the more adult story unravelling around her . . . as the underlying narratives coalesce’ – The Guardian
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Taut yet tender, A Beautiful Family examines the precariousness of childhood through the lens of a long, hazy summer of secrets. Proving the maxim that all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, Trevelyan has crafted a coming of age story that perfectly balances the nostalgia of summer holidays with a looming sense of danger. Find a sun-lit corner and devour this sensational debut in one session (like I did)." - Jacqueline Bublitz
"Dappled in sand and shadow, A Beautiful Family is part coming of age story, part taut thriller, part travelogue, perfectly transporting the reader not only to summer holiday on the New Zealand coast but also to that magical age between childhood and adolescence when the world starts to reveal its dark secrets and everything is more complicated - and, yes, beautiful - than it has seemed. Jennifer Trevelyan's immersive debut is atmospheric and aching." - Laurie Frankel
"An absolutely riveting read. A Beautiful Family held me captive from the first page to the last, both through Trevelyan's uncanny ability to maintain inexorable tension throughout, and her wholly believable narration of a ten-year-old trying to make sense of the adult world around her. I loved it." - Hannah Kent
"I absolutely loved this page-turning family mystery and didn't want it to end. The author so effortlessly transported me to another place and time, and every character leapt off the page. An extraordinary, exquisitely written debut." - Liane Moriarty
"Dappled in sand and shadow, A Beautiful Family is part coming of age story, part taut thriller, part travelogue, perfectly transporting the reader not only to summer holiday on the New Zealand coast but also to that magical age between childhood and adolescence when the world starts to reveal its dark secrets and everything is more complicated - and, yes, beautiful - than it has seemed. Jennifer Trevelyan's immersive debut is atmospheric and aching." - Laurie Frankel
"An absolutely riveting read. A Beautiful Family held me captive from the first page to the last, both through Trevelyan's uncanny ability to maintain inexorable tension throughout, and her wholly believable narration of a ten-year-old trying to make sense of the adult world around her. I loved it." - Hannah Kent
"I absolutely loved this page-turning family mystery and didn't want it to end. The author so effortlessly transported me to another place and time, and every character leapt off the page. An extraordinary, exquisitely written debut." - Liane Moriarty
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Used availability for Jennifer Trevelyan's A Beautiful Family