It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Only We Know

Only We Know

Summary

From the bestselling author of The Boy That Never Was and Girl Unknown, Only We Know is a gripping novel that shows just how dangerous our childhood secrets can be.

In 1982, on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday beneath the stifling heat of the midday sun, three children start a game that ends in tragedy.

Now, thirty years later, Nick, Luke and Katie are estranged, yet still bound together by the dark truth of what happened at the river that day.

Except some secrets won't stay buried.

And when Luke suddenly vanishes and the threatening messages begin, it seems that the strings of the past are tightening around them all. Because someone else knows what they did and is intent on seeking justice, at any cost . . .


Praise for Only We Know:

'Only We Know builds handsomely on the promise of The Boy That Never Was, plausibly and hauntingly exploring the extent to which guilt, shame and secrecy can shape, define and eventually destroy lives' Declan Burke, The Irish Times

'This is an intense and subtle story with some wonderfully poetic passages and a character driven plot which becomes more compelling as the sense of momentum gathers and the true version of events is slowly revealed. Gripping stuff' Sunday Mirror

'The power of Only We Know lies in the slow illumination of how, under their flimsy cloaks of adulthood, Katie and Nick and Luke are still the traumatised children of a long-ago day by a river, frozen in time by one event. It raises fascinating questions about who we are at heart, about the degree to which damage and guilt can shape our natures, and about whether - and how - we can be redeemed' Tana French

'Don't be surprised if you devour Only We Know in one sitting' Crime Fiction Lovers

Reviews

  • The book is beautifully written, with just the right balance of teasing the reader with clues and hitting them with revelations
    Best Crime Fiction of 2015, Telegraph

About the author

Karen Perry

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more