ALL SHE WANTS

Lindsay just wants to be a mother. And when she discovers her partner is leaving her for another woman, her dreams are left in tatters. He was her last chance at a family or was he?

Then she meets Jack, they fall hard for each other, and suddenly everything seems perfect. But why is his sister Natalie so strangely protective of him, yet eager to pass the responsibility to Lindsay? Who are these siblings, why did they really leave the UK, and what terrifying secrets lie in their past?

And does Lindsay really want to know?

Similarly to OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES, in her second novel Hawkins alternates between the present-day and past to tell this story, but here the contemporary chapters have two storylines, one following Lindsay, and the other Natalie. Lindsay is sweet and wholesome although she has a troubled relationship with her self-absorbed mum and struggles to assert herself. Natalie, though, has no such self-esteem issues. She's largely amoral and very focused on improving her – and to a lesser extent her brother Jack's – circumstances. More than a little Ripley-like, Natalie's still scheming to escape the past they fled in the UK behind them, now they've settled in Australia's sunny Newcastle, north of Sydney. But as we well know the past is never that, and the situation escalates as an ex-lover Fleet Street journo tracks Natalie down, and a pregnant Lindsay could be in danger.

Kelli Hawkins writes reports for a private investigator, as well as working on novels for adults and children. She lives in Newcastle with her two teenagers. Over the years she's travelled whenever possible and worked all kinds of jobs. Kelli's been a political journalist, a graphic designer, a mystery shopper - even a staple remover.