Songbird: Abridged edition

A mesmerizing new bestseller from Josephine Cox –the country’s favourite storyteller.

In 1996, in the riverside town of Bedford, four students are living next door a reclusive old woman. She never opens the door to anyone and rarely ventures out in the daytime. But she watches them from behind the curtains.

One evening, while the students are listening to orchestral music, the haunting voice of a woman can be heard singing. When the music stops, the voice continues to enthrall them. One of the students, Betty, is sure it is coming from their neighbour, although the others think it impossible.They have no way of knowing that the woman next door holds a dark and dangerous secret, one that she has carried with her for over twenty years…

We are transported back to 1978, where the woman is young and vibrant, but as she grows older, experiencing both great love and terrible pain, she finds herself in isolation, having deserted everything she cares for.

Yet just when she thinks her life is truly over, the kindness of one young girl brings her back from the brink of total devastation. But there is danger everywhere. Coming back from the dark will not be easy.