‘I suppose it’s the heat and the very special smell of Greece that greets you when you first arrive there. A sort of mixture of honey and herbs that don’t smell so strong when Julie brings them back from the market in North End Road, rosemary and thyme. Thrown in with it all there’s a strong whiff of petrol, as well as dust from the roadworks and the house building all round the airport – but the wild mountain smell wins every time. And I think for one moment before the big coaches rev up and the package people jostle out on to the pavement, maybe I’ll run away and explore those mountains. Julie and this sister of hers can hunt for me but I’ll have disappeared.’

15-year-old Alice is sent to Corfu for the summer holidays to stay with Cara, a family friend. She finds herself isolated and vulnerable and soon suspects that all is not as it appears. Is she being held a prisoner, and will she discover what really happened to her parents? Emma Tennant perfectly captures the voice of a teenager today in a thrilling mystery which will appeal to adults and young people alike – a Kidnapped for our times.

EMMA TENNANT is the the author of more than twenty books, including thrillers, comic fantasies, books for children and a series of unconventional and revisionary ‘sequels’ to classic texts, including Pemberley and An Unequal Marriage (1993–4; reprinted Maia 2005). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.