What I Did

A boy runs across a busy road.
His father smacks him.
A passer-by intervenes ...

When Billy Wright runs across a busy road, his world is altered irreversibly, even though he doesn't realise it at the time.

Because a passer-by has stopped to watch the scene. She has seen Billy's father catch up with him and smack him. Within an hour she has informed social services, plunging the family into a living nightmare which begins with a social worker's visit and escalates through a series of misunderstandings until the family is threatened to its core.

What I Did is a powerful novel about the unseen consequences of a split second decision, about a childhood interrupted and the lengths we go to to protect the ones we love. It is frequently heartbreaking, blackly funny, and utterly compelling.

Genre: General Fiction

"Hugely impressive, gripping, funny and thought provoking." - Emily Barr

"This is family life at its most believable: warm and messy, bored and raging. What I Did is every parent's nightmare, but will make you burst out laughing too. I LOVED IT." - Emma Donoghue

"I loved it! Staggeringly good. Terrifyingly good." - Lisa Jewell

"Excellent . . . Dark but uplifting." - Alex Preston