What We Did: A Novel

by Christobel Kent

Overview

Bestselling British author Christobel Kent's What We Did is a nightmarish, impossible-to-put-down tale of the secrets we keep from our families, of chilling childhood abuse, and of long-awaited retribution.

He stole her childhood . . . she’ll take his future

Something happened, she didn’t know what, something spun, the world turning, back, back, too fast. She would be sick. Bridget put out a hand to steady herself against the wall.

Bridget has a secret—one she keeps from everyone, even her husband. One that threatens to explode when her childhood music teacher, Carmichael, walks into her dress shop. With him is a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, fresh-faced and pretty. She reminds Bridget of herself at that age, naïve and vulnerable.

Bridget wants him away—away from her, away from that girl. But Carmichael won’t leave her alone, won’t stop stalking her. And Bridget’s not a little girl anymore. When he pushes her too far, she snaps. But what she thought was a decisive act only unravels more insidious threats—more than she could have ever imagined—and from which no one is safe, not even her family.

Christobel Kent has written yet another thrilling page-turner with a twisted, riveting conclusion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250251275
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Christobel Kent was born in London and grew up in London and Essex, including a stint on the Essex coast on a Thames barge with three siblings and four stepsiblings, before studying English at Cambridge. She is the author of The Day She Disappeared, The Loving Husband, and The Crooked House, among other novels. Kent lives in Cambridge with her husband and five children.

Editorial Reviews

This is a novel of the #MeToo era; a story about all the jagged fragments that so many women have kept hidden in shame, about the moments they remember from their pasts that make them wonder, ‘Did I deserve this? Did I ask for it?’ This book, through Bridget’s story, unequivocally answers, ‘No. You are not damaged, you are not unlovable.’ A slow-paced novel that builds empathy.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[An] engrossing psychological thriller . . . ‘What We Did’ can be thought of as an atmospheric tale of macabre multitasking. Kent serves up a twisting and complex plot, but the novel’s chief appeal lies in the tense character of Bridget, who learns that a life lived under the radar can’t protect her from the creepy-crawly things that live there, too.” —Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

“Readers will root for the unwitting killer in this tense, well-crafted vigilante thriller.” —Booklist

“Incisive character studies, seamless plotting, and a breathtaking final reveal make this a standout.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Psychological thriller that has you in a vice-like grip from the start. Bridget's already living under the relentless stress of her childhood abuse—but when her abuser turns up out of the blue, there's the more traditional suspense of a rash act and its consequences—the latter never trivialising the former. Masterful.” —The Times & The Sunday Times Crime Club (Star Pick for May)

“Kent’s writing has always possessed literary elegance, and that is fully in evidence here.” —Barry Forshaw, Guardian

“Gripping from the start and impossible to put down, this psychological thriller will enthrall and appall you in equal measure.” —HEAT Magazine

“In a tense but unhurried thriller, Kent manages to champion victims without celebrating victimhood.” —Morning Star

“A twist-packed psychological thriller that sizzles like an electric fire thrown into a cold bath.” —Evening Telegraph

From the Publisher

★ 12/10/2018

One day, 20 years after violin teacher Anthony Carmichael sexually assaulted Bridget Webster, the heroine of this stunning psychological thriller from Kent (The Day She Disappeared), Carmichael walks into the boutique that Bridget owns in Rose Hill, England. They recognize each other. With Carmichael, who’s now teaching at the local university, where Bridget’s husband, Matt, runs the computer office, is a girl of 14 or 15, the pedophile’s latest “protégé.” Confronted by the man who nearly destroyed her life, Bridget isn’t sure what to do. Leave town? Go to the police? Or just do nothing. Meanwhile, London journalist Gillian Lawson, who has had her eye on Carmichael for years and suspects that Bridget was one of his first victims, travels to Rose Hill to interview her and seek out Carmichael. Bridget’s increasingly paranoid behavior worries Matt, who’s acquainted with Carmichael but unaware of his link to Bridget. The stakes rise when Carmichael goes missing. Incisive character studies, seamless plotting, and a breathtaking final reveal make this a standout. Agent: Victoria Hobbs, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-10-15

Kent (The Day She Disappeared, 2018, etc.) explores the long-term effects of abuse and the way one victim finds empowerment.

Bridget leads a happy, normal life: She kisses her husband goodbye every morning and feels both nervous and excited to meet her teenage son's first girlfriend. She runs a boutique in town and has made connections with other small business owners on the main street. Yet Bridget also remembers being a young girl, hospitalized because she refused to eat. She remembers, too, her violin teacher, Anthony Carmichael, who showered her with attention and with praise, before he began to lavish her with other, more unwelcome attentions. She has never told her family about this dark chapter of her past, so when Carmichael shows up in her shop one day, helping another young protégé to choose a dress to wear in a performance, Bridget's careful control on life begins to splinter. And when he returns alone to confront her days later, she does something both shocking and inevitable. In the aftermath, she must work, with the help of her troubled sister, to keep her past and present deeds concealed, little knowing that her family is more deeply ensnared in Carmichael's web than she could imagine. This is not a mystery, though there is a big twist at the end, nor is it a thriller, though there is much psychological tension. Rather, this is a novel of the #MeToo era; a story about all the jagged fragments that so many women have kept hidden in shame, about the moments they remember from their pasts that make them wonder, "Did I deserve this? Did I ask for it?" This book, through Bridget's story, unequivocally answers, "No. You are not damaged, you are not unlovable."

A slow-paced novel that builds empathy; thought-provoking rather than entertaining.

Kirkus Reviews