About the author... Ali Land

She used to work with children as a mental health nurse but gave it up and became a nanny while she wrote her first novel. Now she writes full-time and is living in a creative warehouse community in north London.

On why she wrote this book… ”My mind was full to bursting with the things that worried me, the young people I’d looked after and this burning desire to provoke discussion around how to care for children who had been damaged by their pasts.” On her inspiration for this story… “About eight years ago, I had a conversation with a teenage girl who was terrified she would turn into her mother, who had been involved in the serious harm of young children. I didn’t then think, ‘Oh, that would make a great book’, I went about my life and tried to be the best nurse I could be.” On her writing habits... “I usually write at home. I like to roll ideas around by talking them through out loud, which would be super annoying for everyone else if I did it in a café.”