BELIEVE ME NOT

A fast-paced thriller by debut novelist Natalie Chandler. For fans of THE SILENT PATIENT, Ruth Ware, Claire Douglas, and Lisa Jewell, BELIEVE ME NOT follows Megan, who wakes up after giving birth only to be told her child never existed.

When first-time mum Megan Newman wakes up after giving birth, she reaches out to hold her son only to find a cold, empty hospital room. But there is no bassinet and no sounds of crying babies: instead there are bars on the windows and locks on every door. Megan's world shatters when her husband and childhood sweetheart, Stefan, tells her they don't have a son. Even worse, psychiatrist Dr Macaulay, and Megan's loving sister, Sophia, confirm that she is not in a hospital - she is in a mental facility after suffering a severe breakdown.

Even though her mind is fuzzy from medication and she cannot remember anything from before she was admitted, Megan refuses to believe them. A mother would know if she's had a child, wouldn't she? Increasingly desperate to find her son, Megan's search comes close to revealing secrets from the past that someone is determined to prevent her from exposing - to protect their own sins as much as hers.

Natalie Chandler is a graduate of St Chad's College, Durham and is a teacher in a specialist unit for students with behavioural, social and mental health issues. A Curtis Brown Creative alumna, Natalie has been writing since the tender age of seven, when she was disappointed to learn plagiarism of Roald Dahl is frowned upon. She is avidly interested in other cultures and has travelled all over the world, previously living in South America and Georgia, and currently divides her time between London and the rural north of England. She lives with her partner and shares her sofa with an ever-expanding troupe of dogs.