Rachel Malik

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Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves

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A surprisingly touching account of hidden lives forced out of the shadows

Part period piece, part courtroom drama, this is also a touching love story

So lovely, gentle yet enthralling

Quietly gripping and intriguing

Skilful, persuasive, thoroughly enjoyable, unexpected

A vivid exploration of family secrets uncovered and the effects of trauma, as well as a war story about women doing whatever they had to do to survive

Astonishingly, this is Rachel Malik's debut, and her handling of the richness and simplicity of this story of farming life suggests that she is on the brink of a distinguished literary career

One day in 1940 Rene Hargreaves walks out on her family and the city to take a position as a Land Girl at the remote Starlight farm. There she will live with and help lonely farmer Elsie Boston. At first Elsie and Rene are unsure of one another - strangers from different worlds. But over time they each come to depend on the other. They become inseparable. Until the day a visitor from Rene's past arrives and their careful, secluded life is thrown into confusion. Suddenly, all they have built together is threatened. What will they do to protect themselves? And are they prepared for the consequences?

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2018** 
 
'A surprisingly touching account of hidden lives forced out of the shadows' Sunday Times 
 
One day in 1940 Rene Hargreaves walks out on her family and the city to take a position as a Land Girl at the remote Starlight farm. There she will live with and help lonely farmer Elsie Boston. 
 
At first Elsie and Rene are unsure of one another - strangers from different worlds. But over time they each come to depend on the other. They become inseparable. 
 
Until the day a visitor from Rene's past arrives and their careful, secluded life is thrown into confusion. Suddenly, all they have built together is threatened. What will they do to protect themselves? And are they prepared for the consequences? 
 
'So lovely, gentle yet enthralling' Claire Fuller 
 
'Quietly beautiful and brilliant. This is no bucolic idyll but an unfolding of a plot that constantly twists and turns and surprises. A truly wonderful, memorable novel' Judges of the Walter Scott Prize 2018

Rachel Malik was born in London of mixed English and Pakistani parentage. She studied English at Cambridge and Linguistics at Strathclyde. For many years, Rachel taught English Literature at Middlesex University. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is her first novel.

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves

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A surprisingly touching account of hidden lives forced out of the shadows

Part period piece, part courtroom drama, this is also a touching love story

So lovely, gentle yet enthralling

Quietly gripping and intriguing

Skilful, persuasive, thoroughly enjoyable, unexpected

A breathtaking debut

A vivid exploration of family secrets uncovered and the effects of trauma, as well as a war story about women doing whatever they had to do to survive

Astonishingly, this is Rachel Malik's debut, and her handling of the richness and simplicity of this story of farming life suggests that she is on the brink of a distinguished literary career

About Rachel Malik

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