Dear Child by Romy Hausmann

A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare. She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn’t their Lena.

The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn’t sharing, and Lena’s devastated father is trying to piece together details that don’t quite fit. Lena is desperate to begin again, but something tells her that her tormentor still wants to get back what belongs to him…and that she may not be able to truly escape until the whole truth about what happened in the woods finally emerges.

Dear Child has earned starred reviews from Booklist (“There are so many twists – all of them shocking…As unsettling as they come, this outstanding debut…is recommended not only to [Room] fans, but also to those who enjoy true crime, as the verisimilitude here is second to none.”) and Publishers Weekly (“Outstanding debut…The multiple points of view and numerous plot twists sustain the breakneck pacing, but the books’ real power lies in the author’s insightful and sensitive portrayal of the characters involved in the tragedy. This darkly disturbing thriller definitely marks Hausmann as a writer to watch.”), as well as praise from authors such as New York Times bestseller David Baldacci (“Dear Child is a chilling, original and mesmerizing work. Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can’t stop reading.”).

Dear Child is available now from Flatiron Books.

Romy Hausmann was born in the former GDR in 1981. At the age of twenty-four she became chief editor at a film production company in Munich. Since the birth of her son Romy has been working as a freelancer in TV. Dear Child is her thriller debut. Romy lives with her family in a remote house in the woods near Stuttgart.