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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A child in danger; a retired detective taking a significant illegal risk; a past crime being uncovered
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Tracy's specific act — buying a child — and what it costs her; Atkinson's particular talent for characters whose separate stories turn out to be the same story
What this book is about
Tracy Waterhouse, a retired police detective, buys a small child from a woman she sees mistreating her — an impulse act that changes everything. Jackson Brodie, simultaneously, rescues a dog and finds himself entangled in a case involving a woman trying to trace her birth parents. Kate Atkinson's fourth Jackson Brodie novel weaves its several stories in Atkinson's characteristic way: the connections are not obvious, the timeline moves between past and present, and the Leeds setting is rendered as a specific place rather than a backdrop.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
fourth Jackson Brodie novel by Kate Atkinson; Leeds setting
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