Product Description

On the eve of World War I, Alix's two-year-old cousin Charlie disappears while in her care and is never seen again. Years later, Alix is haunted by the loss of her baby cousin. As the world descends into the horrors of war once more, the question remains: will Charlie Lanchbury ever be found?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386004 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 557 pages

From the Back Cover
July 1914, the eve of the First World War, and fourteen-year-old Alix Gregory is holidaying in France with the wealthy Lanchbury family. She is looking after two-year-old Charlie Lanchbury when he disappears during a family picnic and is never seen again. Once a happy, carefree girl, Alix is blamed for the tragedy and cannot escape from the resulting disintegration of the family.

The war ends and Alix tries to pick up the threads of her life. Through her marriage and the birth of her son, Rory, she finds happiness, and through her meeting with the brothers Derry and Jonathan Fox, she finds love. Yet, living in her ancient and beautiful home, Owlscote, she is haunted by the loss of her baby cousin. As the years pass, and as the world descends into the horrors of war once more, the question remains: will Charlie Lanchbury ever be found?

In The Shadow Child Judith Lennox has written her most brilliant and touching novel, a story of love and loss that stays forever in the mind.

About the Author
Judith Lennox
Judith Lennox was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, but spent most of her childhood in an isolated part of the Hampshire countryside, living in what had formerly been the gamekeeper's cottage of a large country house. After attending a variety of schools, she read English at Lancaster University, and has since worked as a civil servant, an abstracter of scientific reports, and as a pianist for a ballet school. She met her husband, Iain, at Lancaster, they have three sons and now live in Cambridgeshire. Of her novels The Secret Years, The Winter House, Some Old Lover's Ghost, Footprints on the Sand and The Shadow Child are published by Corgi Books.

Customer Reviews

Fantastically well written
This is the story of Alix Gregory, who is holidaying in France on the eve of the first world war, looking after her two year old cousin, then during a family picnic the two year old boy Charlie Lanchbury goes missing and is never seen again, ..., Alix's Uncle blames her for not looking after the boy, and Alix is never quite the same again. After picking up the pieces of her life, Alix eventually find's love if only for a short while, but the pain of losing her small cousin never leaves her. This story is so well written you think it can't go on anymore but it does what seems to start out as a simple enough story line keeps you so intrigued to the very end. I have always been an avid reader of Judith Lennox but in my mind this is definitely her best yet, don't miss this one, this is a must read!

Totally Absorbing
This is the first book I have read by this author, and I bought it because Amazon recommended it to me due to other books I had read and recorded in my history.
Ms Lennox has the gift of making her characters come to life to the extent that it becomes hard to leave them behind at the end of the story.
Alix is devastated by the loss of her toddler cousin following a picnic in Northern France, and the devastation is made harder to bear by the fact she is blamed by his parents for his disappearance. As the years go by her life takes many twists and turns, many of them influenced by war, but the haunting shadow of what happened never leaves her and creates ripples wherever she goes. The lasting memory colours her emotions, especially fear, and although she experiences much happiness the mystery of what really happened to Charlie, and the guilt which is placed upon her, persists in her heart.
There are many cleverly drawn characters in this story and their involvements with each other create a rattling good read, full of ups and downs, joys and heartaches, as it wends its way towards the discovery of the truth. The way the plot unfolds is totally absorbing and I found myself looking forward to the next opportunity to pick the book up and carry on reading.
Writers of this calibre and genre are a treasure to find, and I look forward to reading more of her work. Many thanks to Amazon for pointing me in this direction, and thanks to Judith Lennox for a thoroughly enjoyable read.