Emma's Baby

Emma's Baby

Your baby has been stolen by a stranger. The police won't listen. What would you do?

Abbie Taylor shows remarkable flair in this involving and intriguing debut novel.

A young mother's nightmare comes true... the tube doors close with her baby still on the train.

Struggling as a single mother, Emma sometimes wishes that her thirteen-month-old son Ritchie would just disappear. But when, one quiet Sunday evening, Ritchie is abducted by a stranger on the London Underground, Emma is thrown into a situation worse than she could have ever imagined.

But why don't the police seem to fully believe her story? Why would they think that she would want to hurt her own baby?

If Emma wants Richie back, it looks like she'll have to find him herself. With the help of a stranger called Rafe, the one person who seems to believe her, she goes in search of her son. And she is determined to get him back... no matter what it takes.

Abbie Taylor is a doctor in her thirties. She was born in Ireland and lives between Dublin and London. This is her first novel.

In July 2005, Abbie was waiting at a tube station in London. Just as a train was about to leave, a woman ran on to the platform to catch it, holding her arms out in front of her, carrying some shopping bags. The train doors closed on the handles of the bags, with the bags inside the carriage. The woman started shouting, still holding on. People were telling her to let go and she would be hurt, but she had no intention of letting go. The train doors opened but Abbie was left wondering. What would be so important that she would risk her life for it if it was trapped on a train. Tonight's dinner? Lots of shopping? All her money? Surely not. Then it became clear that there was just one thing she would risk her life for: a baby.

This premise allowed Abbie to explore the precariousness of our status quo, urban isolation and the pain and reward of motherhood in this outstanding debut novel.

Emma's Baby
Random House Australia
Author: Abbie Taylor
Price: $32.95