Little Deaths

"It's 1965 in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, and Ruth Malone--a single mother who works long hours as a cocktail waitress--wakes to discover her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Later that day, Cindy's body is found in a derelict lot a half mile from her home, strangled. Ten days later, Frankie Jr.'s decomposing body is found. Immediately, all fingers point to Ruth. As police investigate the murders, the detritus of Ruth's life is exposed... Did Ruth Malone violently kill her own children, is she a victim of circumstance--or is there something more sinister at play?"--

Prize history

• Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

  2017

  Longlist