Join Jarrold as we celebrate the launch of The Illustrated Child, an unforgettable debut novel by Norwich-based author Polly Crosby.

Little Romilly lives in a ramshackle house with her eccentric artist father and her cat, Monty. When her father finds fame with a series of children's books starring her as the main character, everything changes… but hidden in the pages of the book, Romilly begins to realise that secrets are held, including the dark, devastating truth about her past.

We are thrilled to be supporting this debut novel by a local author. Polly will be in conversation with Cicely Aspinall, Senior Commissioning Editor at HQ Publishing and there will be a chance to put your questions to Polly on the night, as well as to buy exclusive signed copies.

 

About the book:

'Evocative and enchanting - a future classic and a star in the making' Veronica Henry, Sunday Times bestselling author

A picture paints a thousand lies…

Romilly lives in a ramshackle house with her eccentric artist father and her cat, Monty.

She knows little about her past - but she knows that she is loved. When her father finds fame with a series of children's books starring her as the main character, everything changes: exotic foods appear on the table, her father appears on TV, and strangers appear at their door, convinced the books contain a treasure hunt leading to a glittering prize. But as time passes, Romilly's father becomes increasingly suspicious of everything around him, until, before her eyes, he begins to disappear altogether.

In her increasingly isolated world, Romilly turns to the secrets her father has hidden in his illustrated books, realising that there is something far darker and more devastating locked within the pages... The truth. The Illustrated Child is the unforgettable, beguiling debut from Polly Crosby.

 

About the author:

Polly Crosby grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives with her husband and son in the heart of Norfolk. In 2018, Polly won Curtis Brown Creative’s Yesterday Scholarship, which enabled her to finish her novel. Later the same year, The Illustrated Child was awarded runner-up in the Bridport Prize’s Peggy Chapman Andrews Award for a First Novel. Polly received the Annabel Abbs Creative Writing Scholarship at the University of East Anglia, and is currently working on her second novel.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER  NOW WITH DISCOUNT