A Stranger in the Family

From Robert Barnard, the internationally acclaimed Diamond Dagger-winning crime writer . . .

Kit Philipson has always felt like something of a stranger in his family. Growing up as the only child of professional parents in Glasgow, Scotland, he had every advantage. His mother was a teacher; his father, a journalist, escaped from Nazi Germany at the age of three on one of the 1939 Kindertransports. But on her deathbed, Kits mother tells him he was adopted and that his birth name was Novello. Soon, vague memories of his early life begin to surface: his nursery, pictures on the wall, the smell of his birth mother when shed been cooking. And, sometimes, there are more disturbing memories—of strangers taking him by the hand and leading him away from the only family he had ever known. A search of old newspaper files reveals that a three-year-old boy named Peter Novello was abducted from his parents holiday hotel in Sicily in 1989. Now the young man who has known himself only as Kit sets out to rediscover his past, the story of two three-year-old boys torn from their mothers in very different circumstances. Kits probing inquiries are sure to bring surprises. They may also unearth dangerous secrets that dare never be revealed.

With sharp wit and deep insight, Robert Barnard sweeps away all preconceptions in this powerful study of maternal love and the danger of obsession.

"Kit Philipson (born Peter Novello), the reserved hero of this intriguing suspense novel from Diamond Dagger Award — winner Barnard (Last Post), grew up with all too perfect adoptive parents in Glasgow, Scotland. Now that the couple who raised him are dead, Kit seeks answers about his past from his biological parents, and learns that his adoption stemmed from his kidnapping at age three during a Novello family holiday in Trepalu, Sicily, in 1989. His birth mother discourages him from digging into why he was abducted, while his dying birth father won't even acknowledge Kit as his own. Determined to suss out the truth, Kit discovers that his adoptive father and his birth father once had a mysterious confrontation at a conference. Kit must go back to a grandfather's dealings during WWII to move forward, but can there be a sweet family ending after all the coldness and deception? Readers will keep turning the pages to find out. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Diamond Dagger award-winner Barnard--one of the deftest stylists in the field ("New York Times Book Review")--returns with an exquisitely written mystery about a man who discovers he had been abducted as a baby.

Robert Barnard is the winner of the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievemetn and the Nero Wolfe Award, as well as the Agatha and Macavity awards.  An eight-time Edgar nominee, he is a member of Britain's distinguished Detection Club, and in May 2003, he received the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement in mystery writing.  His most recent novel is A Stranger in the Family, published by Scribner in 2010. He lives with his wife, Louise, in Leeds, England.