Playmates

A shocking secret… 

Lucy and her younger sister Biddy have spent their entire lives together. In fact, Lucy has been responsible for taking care of Biddy ever since they were children. 

But the roles are reversed when Lucy suddenly falls ill with pneumonia. Now, it is up to Biddy to care for her older sister.

And when Lucy suddenly dies, Biddy finds herself alone for the first time in her life.

But one thing is certain: no one must know that Lucy has died.

Because if they do, they will start to interfere – and Biddy has had a lifetime of being bossed around. 

So Biddy continues to maintain the pretence and her daily routine, telling enquiring neighbours that her sister is still under the weather. 

When a boy named Ginger Mudd knocks at her door one day, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two. 

For Biddy, Ginger’s visits provide a welcome relief from the pressure of keeping her dark secret. A secret that threatens to overshadow their budding friendship…

How long will Biddy be able to cover up her sister’s death? 

Or will the shocking truth finally be revealed?

Playmates is a haunting tale of deception and secrets set against the cosy backdrop of a rural town. 

‘Eva Hanagan tells a story of supernatural evil with such quiet conviction and sets it in such pleasing rural domesticity that its full force only slowly pervades the reader’s consciousness. When it does it is absolute …’ - Shirley Toulson, British Book News 

‘Eva Hanagan writes with an easy and natural grace which gives to the life of her recluse an evocative, unforced descriptiveness of an impressive order.’ - Derek Stanford, Scotsman 

‘Mrs Hanagan is good at uneasy states of mind and feelings, and very good at the temptations of suicide … an accomplished beginning.’ - Robert Nye, - Guardian 

‘Between the covers of this book is a really thrilling story … It should restore to many a reader his faith in the pleasure of reading for reading’s sake.’ - West Sussex County Times 

‘ … so beautifully and precisely visualised that I too was enthralled … a delicious piece of water-colour Gothic.’ - Michael Maxwell-Scott, Daily Telegraph 

Eva Hanagan was a Scottish author, who died at the age of 85, in 2009. During a Foreign Office posting to Vienna after the Second World War, Hanagan met her husband, with whom she had two sons. She published her first novel, In Thrall , in 1977. Following which, there was a fairly rapid succession of novels: Playmates (1978), and A Knock at the Door (1982). She settled in Sussex, from where she authored her novels.