The Runaway

A compelling story of a village conspiracy kept secret for generations, until a teenager runs away from home.

Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Rhiannon Morgan runs away from the remote Welsh village of Llandymna. Camping out in Dyrys Woods, she starts to make a new life for herself and she finds space for her active imagination to run wild. Weaving together the stories she loves and memories of her past, including the mother she lost thirteen years ago. Back in the village, Rhiannon's disappearance triggers a series of events that uncovers the cracks in Llandymna's quiet surface. Quick-tempered Callum finds himself reluctantly drawn into search parties, while a young police officer is forced to investigate his neighbours, and the village's elderly story-teller hints at a secret that the older generation have kept for decades. But as painful as the village's past may be, it may hold the key for hope in the present... Claire Wong's strong debut explores how human relationships develop, how we change as we interact with one another, and the role of folktales and mythology in small communities.