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What happens when a mother and her daughters are separated; who do they become when they believe it might be forever? 1953, the eve of the Cartwright´s departure from Malasia. Eleven-year-old Emma can´t understand why they´re leaving without their mother; why her taciturn father is refusing to answer questions.

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FROM THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TEA PLANTER´S WIFE

The Separation, Dinah Jefferies´ stunning debut novel, is the heartbreaking tale of a family fractured by lies and one mother´s love reaching across the distance of years and continents.

A country at war with itself,
a family divided and betrayed,
a bond that can never be broken...

Malaya, 1955. Lydia Cartwright returns from visiting a sick friend to an empty house. The servants are gone. The phone is dead. Where is her husband Alec? Her young daughters, Emma and Fleur?

Fearful and desperate, she contacts the British District Officer and learns that Alec has been posted up country. But why didn´t he wait? Why did he leave no message?

Lydia´s search takes her on a hazardous journey through war-torn jungle. Forced to turn to Jack Harding, a man she´d vowed to leave in her past, she sacrifices everything to be reunited with her family.

And while carrying her own secrets, Lydia will soon face a devastating betrayal which may be more than she can bear . . .

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An utterly captivating story of love and loss. Thrilling, gripping and intelligent Kate Furnivall Author of ´The Russian Concubine´ and ´The Concubine´s Secret´

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Jefferies, Dinah
Dinah Jefferies was born in Malaysia and moved to England at the age of nine. Her idyllic childhood always held a special place in her imagination, and when she began writing novels in her 60s, she was able to return there - first in her fiction and then on annual research trips for each new novel. Dinah Jefferies is the author of four novels, The Separation, The Tea Planter´s Wife - a Number One Sunday Times bestseller, The Silk Merchant´s Daughter and Before the Rains. She lives in Gloucestershire.

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