Kate Atkinson meets Joanna Cannon in this powerful, twisty novel of family drama and thriller intrigue.

Nine-year-old Frankie Appleton likes to count gates. One day, she hopes to design the perfect gate – a gate to keep the bad things out. Little does she know that the bad things have already got in. Now her mother is dead, and the only other person with a house key has disappeared. Frankie thinks she knows who did it. But first she has to prove it.

A delicately brutal exploration of what lies behind closed doors, and of the secrets and lies that form the fabric of every family, The Weight of Small Things is as charming as it is chilling.

This imaginative and unique story follows Frankie’s investigation into her own mother’s death. Armed with her trusted rucksack full of all her essential items, Frankie sets out from her new home, a high-rise council estate, back to where it all began, encountering a number of colorful and dark characters along the way.

The Weight of Small Things is a delicately brutal exploration of what lies behind closed doors, and of the secrets and lies that form the fabric of every family. It is as charming as it is chilling: a powerful and twisty read that stays with you long after you have finished reading.