A grieving mother develops a dangerous bond with a haunted painting in this chilling thriller from the author of The Butcher’s Daughter.

Clayton and Avril Shaw have lost their little boy and are still mourning when they move into Swallow’s Nest on the Yorkshire moors.

In their new house Avril discovers a painting. When she learns that the boy in the painting was deaf, like her dead son, she starts to try to communicate with his ghost.

Meanwhile, Clayton finds himself entangled in an equally undesirable friendship with a retired fire chief who knows more about the painting than he is prepared to let on.

Is The Crying Boy painting cursed, and can numerous house fires be linked to it?

Struggling with their unstable marriage, the couple find themselves in further danger as an increasingly disturbing bond develops between Avril and The Crying Boy.

In a twist of events Avril’s irrational behavior is brought to a dramatic halt when she discovers she is pregnant. With her affections once again restored for Clayton, she decides to dispose of the sinister portrait. But the cast off painting wants revenge and its anger towards Avril’s unborn child might just prove immeasurable.

Jane E. James