A white knuckle thriller that keeps you guessing until the end. 15 year old Abigail has been returned to her parents after having been held captive for 7 years. She was abducted at a tube station aged 8. The drama features the intrigues within the extended family; the guilt of the mother as well as a highly traumatised teenager.
The final dramatic scene is almost unbearable to read.
The trauma of the family is well written and the guilt of the mother clearly depicted.
The novel is a real page Turner and perfect for any reader who loves psychological dramas.
Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novel.

When Abigail goes missing at the age of seven from a tube station in London the whole family is frantic ..
Seven years later she appears at a London police station with a little girl in tow.
Reunited with her family Abigail finds it hard to adjust to coming home, even her cousin and best friend
Secrets and lies Abigail doesn't know who to trust, her abductor or her family.

An utterly compelling read - I raced through this! A fascinating story with twists and turns, which definitely keeps you guessing throughout.

Oh,What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! Whenever we deceive others,in order to make things better for ourselves in the moment,we deceive ourselves most of all.

It has been seven years since Anne's eight year old daughter Abigail vanished without a trace. Seven years of searching, living for the day that she would be able to hold her beloved daughter in her arms again and with the guilt of what happened on that fateful day in the London tube station.

And now,unbelievably,the day that she has always hoped for has miraculously arrived. Abigail has been found,she just walked into a police station in London and the officers there realised that she was on the missing persons database. Anne is overjoyed to have her daughter back but also terrified of how much Abigail remembers from the day she went missing.

Because Anne told a little white lie all those years ago,and if the truth was ever uncovered,it would shatter the image of perfection that Anne has strived so hard to create.

The chapters of this heartstoppingly brilliant thriller alternate between Anne and her fifteen year old niece Jess. I was never really certain wether I liked Anne or not,she was a complex character who I wouldn't say had any redeemable qualities and was also very indecisive. But her struggles to make decisions for herself were unsurprising considering she had spent her entire life living in the shadow of her controlling sister Lillian. Now that was one character that I definitely didn't like,not even a tiny bit for various reasons. Lillian had a mantra that she expected everyone to live by,you could easily imagine her having those little wooden quote signs scattered around her home with we are fine,we are happy,we are perfect written on them. Poor Jess was treated more like a child of a much younger age and kept in the dark about anything that was even remotely connected to her beloved cousin because in Lillian's world,if you didn't talk about it,then it hadn't happened. Absolutely nothing or no one was permitted to tarnish the image of Lillian's perfect life and family. I loved Abigail's dad Robert,he was a fantastic,loveable character and Jess's dad Fraser who constantly found himself torn between keeping his Lillian happy and honestly answering Jess's questions. My heart went out to poor Abigail who must have felt like she had escaped one prison just to find herself trapped in another one. Living with her mum's overbearing attempts to make up for the mistakes of the past and her constantly insisting that everything was fine. Whilst below the surface,a boiling pot of secrets,lies,manipulations,obsessions and deceit was bubbling away,and would eventually overflow resulting in more than one person getting very badly burned.

Little White Lies is a expertly plotted,unputdownable,suspenseful thriller that had me hooked in from the very first page and frantically turning the pages,totally captivated by the gripping story. The characters were vivid and realistic.There was quite a few twists and turns along the way including one jaw dropping reveal that had me sitting in my comfy chair doing a very bad impersonation of omg cat. The feeling of dread is never far away,the reader can't help sensing that something bad is going to happen,a feeling that only intensified as the story unfolded. This is an extremely well written debut thriller that I couldn't put down and I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future. Worth far more than five stars and definitely one of my favourite books of this year. Very very highly recommended.

This is a story about a missing child returned home. It is an interesting take on child abduction as most books concentrate on the loss of the child. The struggles that the family have to work through throw a new light on the situation.
I found some of the characters' behaviours difficult to understand but decided that this was due to the confusion of the return and the upset. of the court case.
I enjoyed the story and can readily recommend it.

There have been quite a few books and tv programmes recently, looking at the aftermath of a missing person returning but I think this is one of the better ones. I do think it could've ended after the trial though, as it became quite odd and a bit confusing after that.

The story is told mostly by Abigail's mum and her cousin, in alternating chapters. This makes the story more interesting as they both have such different relationships with Abigail, as you'd expect with relationships between peers and parents. This made Abigail's character far more believable.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were enough twists to keep me interested and the characters were likeable enough that I wanted to see how they got on. Definitely worth a read.

An intriguing thriller and solid debut novel from Scottish author Phillippa East. Throughout the book we are kept guessing about the circumstances surrounding Abigail's disappearance. The writer explores family dynamics in the face of trauma and the destructive power of guilt.

This book had so much promise as the story itself is an addictive one- missing child comes home, what happened to her and why etc. But the problem was Abigail and Anne weren’t likeable, so I just didn’t care. I did persist with the book and then it took a giant leap resulting in ******spoiler coming up *******
Abigail tries to kill her cousin Jess???!!!! That just lost me as the reader and I realised the book hadn’t made up its mind as to what story it was trying to tell.
Interesting but not great

This book was gripping right until the very last few pages. I thought that the actual ending was weak but I can see how it's hard to end a book like this when all the drama and tension comes from not knowing what happened and trying to guess.

Anne White only looked away for a moment, but that was all it took: her eight year old daughter Abigail disappeared, abducted from a busy train station and vanished into thin air.

Seven painful years later, Anne gets the call she never thought she'd receive: Abigail has been found safe and well, and they're looking for the man who has been keeping her captive for the last seven years.

As the family struggle to connect with the older version of the Abigail they remember - sullen, prickly, difficult - Anne must ask herself the one question she doesn't want to: just what does Abigail remember about the day she disappeared...?

I've read a fair few books that have really disappointed me lately, with a great premise followed by a disappointing execution, so I went into this one steeled for another let down as I liked the story idea so much. Thankfully, this was one of those books that hooked me in from the opening paragraph, and never let go, I loved everything about it - the writing style, the well-developed and fully-realised characters, and how the author sensitively explored the issues faced by not only Abigail after her abduction, but also her family in assimilating this now-stranger into their home.

I loved the relationship between Abigail and her cousin - the intensity of those childhood relationships beautifully realised - and I thought the plotting was wonderfully paced. I read this in two long sittings, and didn't want to put it down - I was fascinated by the complexity of the relationships, and wanted to find out what secrets each of them was protecting. And then that ending - so brilliantly done.

I cannot wait to read more from this author - I loved this book, and will be recommending it to all of my reader friends. A fabulous, gripping, and entertaining novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting idea of a book that kept me reading purely in hope to find out who took Abigail. The book, for me, dragged this out, hiding information from the reader, making it really hard to understand or care for what is going on. Nonetheless i still read it, but i feel ambivalent about it.

I did find this quite well written but it took a long time to get to the truth, and I got tired of the hints of secrets that were not revealed until right at the end. The final dramas were not really worth waiting for, to be honest.

I was absolutely enthralled by this book, I read the whole thing in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down! I was desperate to find out the truth about what happened to Abigail and just when I thought it was over another twist took me completely by surprise. I found my self more drawn to Jess then Abigail but I think this was the intention as we didn’t get POV from abigails perspective. Would really recommend this book and can’t wait to read more from this author.

I loved the twists and turns in the story Tense plot telling the story of what happens when a daughter returns seven years after she was abducted Great sequel to P.S I Love You HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Can't wait for the next one

'He was so ordinary... In the street, I would have walked straight past him. I couldn't have singled him out in a crowd. If he had come up to me helpfully in the rain, I don't think I'd have been frightened. The idea sent a shiver down my spine.'

Anne has waited so long for this moment. 7 years ago, her 8 year old daughter Abigail went missing, taken by a stranger after her mother looked away for just a second. Her disappearance has changed everything for her family, who have to deal with the guilt of being the ones left behind. But then the call comes, and it seems like a miracle has happened: Abigail has been found, and is being returned to her family. For Anne, is seems like the hard times are over, and everyone can now move forward with their lives. But moving on is harder than it seems, especially when it seems that long-hidden secrets from the past are ready to reveal themselves...

Ok, so I completely agree with the comparisons to the BBC drama Thirteen, which was one of my favourite BBC dramas from recent years, and was actually the reason for me choosing to request this novel on NetGalley. It does have quite an unusual narrative though, which chapters alliterative between the POV of Abigail's mother Anne, and her cousin Jess. This took a little while for me to get into, largely because it means you have to untangle the family dynamics a little bit in order to fully understand who is who. I would also have loved to see some sections from Abigail's siblings perspectives (two younger twin brothers who were only babies when she disappeared). You do get an idea of how they struggle with her return, but an inside perspective would also have been very strong. I also would've really enjoyed a section from Abigail, maybe at the very beginning or very end, but alas, it wasn't to be.

I also struggled to understand why Jess was including as a POV character at first, as I would've expected the second POV character to be one of Abigail's siblings, or maybe even Abigail herself. But once I got used to it, it did make a lot of sense. Having these two POV's allowed the reader to experience the aftermath of the abduction in a novel and unique manner - as well as the traditional perspective of the mother, struggling with her guilt over being the one at fault (or at least the one perceived as being at fault), we also get to see the less traditional perspective of Jess, who was as close to Abigail as twins are, and is struggling with her own guilt of being the one left behind. Seeing how Jess had almost put her life on pause whilst waiting for Abigail's return was completely heartbreaking, and gave a rarely explored insight into what happens when a trauma affects two families that are so closely tied together.

I have to admit though, the ending was a tad disappointing. There are two fairly big moments at the end - one being the reveal of what actually happened that day, and the other being a completely unexpected moment so I won't comment on that one. The reveal to me was a tad underwhelming, there were a few elements of it that just didn't completely make sense but that might be me being fussy. Although to be fair, the focus of the novel is very much on the aftermath and not the event itself, so in that sense I suppose it doesn't really matter too much.

Personally, there were times where I struggled with understanding what was really meant to be going on in Abigail's head. You're seeing her actions from the perspective of two people who feel they know her best, but clearly don't, and so it did make me feel quite detached from Abigail as a character. If I'm being totally honest, I didn't really care too much about her, and felt there were times where her trauma could've been mistaken for rudeness. In some ways, it felt like Abigail wasn't really the focus of the book, which made for a slightly odd reading experience.

I realise this review makes the book sound really bad, but it's actually not! It's more me picking holes, and obviously it's hard to review a book where there are quite significant sections you can't comment on! I would say that it is a strong book, definitely when you consider it is a debut, and it showed great potential. For me, the absence of Abigail's voice was a weakness, but others may argue it is a strength, so that is personal opinion. I would definitely read East's next novel, and I would say this is a very strong example of a debut domestic drama, and one that is enjoyable in that it focuses on a unique and rarely explored situation.

3.5 stars


For me this book worked best,when it told the story of the family ripped apart by their child's disappearance,and how they try to put it back together when she is returned to them 7 years later.
Everyone is on egg shells,nobody wants to know the details of what happened. Cousin Jess is in denial and thinks everything will carry on as it ws.
Yet the clues are dropped that they lied about something,and covered up....
Poor kid doesn't know what to believe,her family or the lies her kidnapper told her for years.
The reveal of the lies wasn't that big a deal for me,it didn't change the crime,just the circumstances of how it happened... But it led nicely to a tense showdown,where you could feel the struggle of emotions in Abigail.

Wow, what a stonker of a novel! I really loved this, it drew me in from page one. Fast paced and full of secrets, you definitely need to read this!

"Little White Lies" by Philippa East is a fast paced, tense read. The story is narrated by a few strong female characters in a clear and precise manner.
The chapters are short, yet filled with nail biting drama and heartache. I really felt for the teenage girls in this book and could somewhat sympathise with them.
A strong read which I very much enjoyed.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. This book makes claims to "secrets" right away at the beginning, so it has you constantly guessing exactly what was covered up. As the book continues, you realize there are secrets from more than one person. It had some realistic parts on how a family may cope with the return of a child that has gone through this ordeal. The ending left me a little disappointed, but overall good book with suspense.

Wow this book kept me twisted and turning all the way through it. I just didn’t know who to trust and what secrets were being kept at every step. I was blown away by the story and the ending. How does a family ever come back together after a child returns seven years after being abducted. After the celebrations take place how do the family learn to heal and mend. You will not be disappointed by this book.