Stolen
Chicken House(May 2009)
www.doublecluck.com
Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described.
Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in th planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?
The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.
"I really hated having to put this book away when my train stop came up, it will grip you from the very first page! Gemma has feelings of excitement when an attractive stranger (or is he?) approaches her in Bangkok airport - Ty is lean, tanned and makes her feel special. That is until she wakes up in a house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the Australian desert. Struggling to come to terms with being stolen from her family, Gemma initially resists Ty and her new circumstances before a failed attempt at escape sees her trying to accomodate the way things are, all the while searching for the best way to freedom. Lucy Christopher has taken a difficult subject and created a fascinating narrative in which Gemma's story is told through a letter to her kidnapper. A brilliant read."
-- Elizabeth Horne, Waterstone's
"Stolen is a brilliant novel, which will pick up your world and shake it so hard that you can never be sure of anything again. Set in a landscape so exotic and powerful that it becomes one of the main characters in the book, this story of a boy and a girl delivers one compelling scene after another. Ty and Gem will be in your head a long time. If you were getting tired of reading, Stolen will turn you back into an addict."
--John Marsden
"STOLEN is a powerful and compelling read. The landscape of the novel is like its Australian-outback setting: harsh, unforgiving yet beautiful, beguiling and ultimately dangerous. A remarkable first book"
--Philip Ardagh
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