I absolutely loved this debut novel from start to finish and would give it 6 stars if I could! Utterly gripping, well written, hard hitting and emotional, the story kept moving and twisting right to the end. The characters and relationships were beautifully crafted and utterly believable, the end was unexpected to me but flowed well. Would highly recommend and will look for more from this talented author.

Little White Lies is the debut novel by Philippa East and I give this 3.5 stars. 
Anne’s daughter Abigail, went missing from outside a London tube station when she was 8 years old and 7 years later she walks into a police station so Anne and her family try to make things as they were before Abigail was abducted but things will never be the same. 
I got frustrated with this book in places as the author over described things in places  and left things unsaid, this is just my opinion, so I struggled to get through a lot of it but I stuck with it and then found the end confusing. I suggest you try this book for yourself and I know I will be looking for what the author comes up with next. 
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley.

As a young teen I remember watching a TV mini series about Steven Staynor who was taken at a young age and returned home as a teen.  His struggle to fit back into normal life and his parents' struggle with guilt was just heartbreaking and it's a story that has stayed with me for about 25 years.   

I think that's a major reason I was drawn to this novel at first glance.

After being missing for seven years, Abbie returns home as a teen but all is not the reunion you would expect.  As the story moves forward and details are uncovered this heartbreaking novel becomes a roller coaster of intense emotions and twists.  It's such a brilliant and breathtaking read.

Mainly told from Abby's perspective with some chapters from Jess (Abby's cousin who she shared a close relationship) and other characters, Philippa East has brought to life the anguish and devastation caused by loosing a loved one in this way but also the reality of that reunion after such a long time.  These raw emotions alone make for a compulsive read but add in some mind blowing plot twists and you've got one hell of an explosive novel.

A fabulous emotional roller-coaster of a read.

Little White Lies is a superb debut novel that crackles with an emotional suspense that builds to such a crescendo, you will be desperately uncover "the secret" that lies at its heart.
Anne White has just had the phone call that she never thought she would get. Her daughter Abigail, who was lost 7 years ago at the age of 8, has been found alive after she walked into a police station with another child. Anne is overjoyed as she thought her child was dead but when Abigail returns home, things become very difficult for the whole family as Abigail struggles to readjust to the life she lived before. And when an arrest is made in the case of Abigails abduction, the secrets and lies that have lain dormant for 7 years start to bob to the surface.
Philippa East has written a slow burning family drama with an intriguing plot line at its heart. Abigail isn't the same child who disappeared all those years ago. She has been damaged both physically and psychologically and struggles to become the daughter she knows her family want her to be. Her cousin Jess relates part of narrative to us and I do have to say that at times I struggled to remember who was talking as both Jess and Anna had a very similar "voice". A similar age to Abigail, the girls were once very close indeed but they are now living parallel lives. As the storyline builds towards revealing what actually happened the day that Abigail disappears, it's Jess who struggles the most to accept that that relationship they had has gone.
Little White Lies is an intense read that can be uncomfortable at times although nothing is ever explicitly explored. I felt empathy for everyone involved in this devastating case and that didn't change even after the big reveal although I felt that the storyline never became as emotionally charged as I expected it too. Philippa East writes beautifully and I think she has a hugely successful writing career ahead of her.

Anne, husband Robert and the children were in London visiting Robert’s sick mother, but after a row Anne and the children were making their way alone on the underground. Anne took her eyes off Abigail for a moment and she disappeared. CCTV showed 8 year old Abi, leaving the station but then nothing….she was gone.

8 years later, Abigail walks into a police station with another missing child. 

The family are so happy she has come back home, but they don’t know how to behave with her anymore…8 year old Abi has grown up. They try so hard to let her know she is loved, that she’s been missed and that everything will be ok now…..But is it? Abi feels they are all pretending…..and with a trial of her abductor pending, nerves are frayed. Can she ever feel safe again?

This is a tale of family and how they deal with trauma, how little lies have consequences and of guilt. How a family try to do the best for each other but at what cost. A tale of love, guilt and obsession and so compelling with a slow build to the tension packed ending …but there is hope. Brilliant, so unputdownable I read this in one sitting. 

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for a free ecopy of the book. This is my honest and unbiased review.

3.5 ⭐

Trigger Warnings: Kidnap & Abuse

I was so interested to read this debut novel but found that I wasn't as gripped as I thought I would be. However that being said I did enjoy it and Little White Lies is definitely a great family drama read so maybe not so much of a thriller for me!

It was interesting reading about Abigail being integrated in the family again after so much time away and the emotions the family members were going through. I did feel for her alot of the time because she has been missing for seven years and she now has to adjust to normal family life.

I felt a lot of different emotions through the book as, I think, there are a lot of unspoken moments that you can just feel as you read, that probably doesn't make sense Haha!

I feel that the novel was written really well, flowed perfectly and didn't go off on tangents. I just wish I was more gripped as some moments just annoyed me more than anything but there was a scene at the end that I was really shocked by.

If you like the family drama reads then this is for you!

This is an addictive and intelligent debut novel from author and therapist Phillipa East. It’s a tale of a family coping with the aftermath of an abduction. Abigail White has been missing for seven years, after becoming separated from her mum, Anne, on a trip to London. Now aged 15, Abigail walks into a police station along with a younger girl. The novel flits between Anne’s viewpoint and that of Abigail’s cousin Jess. Jess and Abigail were born only four months apart and we’re more like twins than cousins. They had a special connection, and even after seven years apart Jess still feels she knows Abigail better than anyone. Her friend Lena warns Jess that Abigail has gone through a significant trauma and will have changed in ways they can’t see. Soon after her arrival at the police station, detectives discover that Abigail was taken from outside the tube station by a stranger. It seems that he was in the right place at the right time, just as Abigail became separated from her Mum and twin brothers. Anne had been trying to manage Abigail, the twins, a buggy and the train doors. Detective McCarthy has experience with abduction cases and uses his expertise to ask some probing questions: how did Abigail manage to wander off the platform and up to the street above, is this just a crime of opportunity or is there any chance at all that the family know this man?


Anne and her sister Lillian are close, but they are different. Lillian is the older sister and the ‘fixer’ who is organised, sensible and it seems to Anne as if she never makes mistakes. Anne’s life has been more complicated. Abigail’s birth father became an addict, causing difficulties with finances and the safety of their new family. With Lillian’s help, Anne left and despite trying to maintain contact with Abigail he has largely been absent. Anne then met Robert who has always considered Abigail his own daughter, creating a stable family unit for the first time. It is hard to imagine that Abigail could simply slit back into her family as if she never left. Anne is beset by doubts and concerns. Will Abigail expect her bedroom to be as if she never left? Can they let Jess back into her life at once or will she need time to adjust? Have the years of captivity and sexual abuse left her daughter so damaged she won’t recover? There is also the hint of a secret surrounding the moments before Abigail’s disappearance that day. Anne wonders what Abigail remembers and whether they should talk about that day. Lillian advises her to leave it alone. The tension between them and Anne’s concerns kept me hooked. To me, Abigail feels like a ticking time bomb and I found myself waiting for her to explode.

I felt that the author understood the psychology of trauma and she depicted beautifully the way a crime like this affects everyone around the victim. The trauma ripples outwards into the family like a drop of water on the surface of a pond. I really liked the insidious way that secrets are shown to damage trust and erode relationships. The depiction of Abigail is very cleverly written because it delves into the complexity of the relationship between the captor and the child. For example, Anne is startled by the findings of an educational psychologist who concludes that Abigail must have been home schooled. It seems strange that a man who has emotionally and sexually abused a child for seven years, would be concerned about their education. It made me think about the relationship between the child and the abductor. We can accept the negative aspects, but it is harder to accept that Abigail might have positive feelings toward her captor. It is as if, in order to survive mentally, she has had accepted captivity as her reality; when Cassingham abducts a younger girl it prompts her to act, but it still takes her a long time to find her voice again and be angry about her experience. The concern I had was whether Abigail would ever accept her new reality at home with her family.

I enjoyed the character of Jess and her struggle to understand the cousin who was once as close as her shadow. Can she trust that the same Abigail even exists any more? Can they jump back into easy familiarity or will Jess have to get to know this new Abigail who is the sum of her experiences? I truly empathised with her internal struggle between supporting her cousin and keeping the friends she has made since Abigail disappeared. Abigail might find it hard to fit when she has missed out on seven years of music and other popular culture. She is awkward, not knowing what to wear, how to do her hair or even how to speak. There is a gulf between her and other 15 year olds that might be too wide to bridge. It might be embarrassing for Jess, but for Abigail the frustration could be too much to cope with. She can’t find anyone who shares or truly understands her experience.

This was a great read, with believable characters facing a parent’s worst fear; their child has gone missing. I enjoyed the different perspective, focussing not on the abduction and police operation but on the issues faced when the child returns. It explores the family’s happiness and relief, only to find a relative stranger in their midst. Alongside this central narrative, East also explores the complexity of modern family relationships, and poses the question of whether we truly know the people we love and live alongside. Within the relationship of Jess and Abigail, we see the pains of growing up and fitting in, particularly the realisations that our elders are fallible and the World might not be as safe as we imagine.


I would like to thank NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of a young girl who was abducted, but after seven long years,  returned to her family.  It's  about how difficult it was for her to adjust to being with  them, and how she had to learn to trust them.  It also tells how hard it was for her family as, obviously, she was not the same person who was abducted. Mistakes were made along the way, but they got there in the end.

I wasnt sure if I'd like this book when I started it but I was wrong. 

It pulls you in and doesn't let go till the end. The writing makes your imagination run wild.

If you like suspenseful, tension filled story. Then pick this up.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Little White Lies does an excellent job of building a mystery, setting the reader up to brainstorm potential answers, and... is underwhelming in its ending. The lies told really are little and don't really surmount to anything, and while I enjoyed the read I don't find this to be the so-called thriller people are making it out to be. It reads more like a family drama and I did enjoy the characters (particularly the two girls) as well as their dynamics for all of their flawed realism.

The last ten percent or so was probably my favourite part of the book as it was the first time I was really hooked on what was going to happen, whereas the majority of the plot meandered and dragged. Nonetheless I enjoyed the book as a whole, saving quotes from it and investing in the characters so would recommend as a quick read!

Little White Lies tells the story Abigail White who was abducted 7 years previously and her sudden return when she simply walked in to a police station. What should have been a happy family reunion is anything but and we see the impact her abduction and return has on her family. The story is narrated through two points of view, the Mother's and the girl's cousin. It did a great job of showing how the same events and words can be viewed differently by adults and children. The cousin, Jess, tells things as very black and white e.g my cousin was abducted, the man was a bad guy, she's home and safe now so everything can go back to normal. But throughout the book there are hints of a big secret about that terrible day that are being kept by the Mother which not only makes us think that this was not a straightforward child abduction and that there may be something more sinister going on, but also heightens tensions and emotions within the family.
These hints of a secret kept me reading as fast as I could. I was gripped from the first page and was sneaking in reading in every spare moment I had. I was literally desperate to find out what had actually happened. There were lots of twists and turns in the plot that kept me addicted to reading I felt I could easily relate to the Mother of the book, especially when she is talking about her own downfalls and the guilt she feels. It's easy for us as Mother's to blame ourselves for every little thing that isn't quite right with our kids. 
I don't think that there was anything particularly unique about Little White Lies, I just think it was a very, very well written thriller full of suspense that any fans of the genre would love. Little White Lies is exactly what a thriller should be!

Great idea for a book wherein a 15 year old returns home 8 years after going missing, the return doesn’t go as smoothly as the family expected and it turns out there are 2 secrets as to why 
The problem is the 2 secrets are at best underwhelming and at worst totally ridiculous and the other problem is it takes 300 pages to get to them, and its a long 300 pages, one whole chapter was describing redecorating a room and the paints using to do so, the author over described everything ( imo ) and it was repetitive, as said when the secrets arrived it was more a ‘oh’ than a OHHHHHHH and the ending way off on a tangent that yes was unexpected but was again unbelievable
No this book wasn’t for me and as say was a good premise with a bounty of possibilities that sadly were not taken
3/10
2 Stars

I requested this book because I was intrigued by the book cover and I have to say the book definitely lived up to it.. 
The book got going straight away with Abigail walking into a police station and then being handed back to her famil.y. I really did feel for Anne as I think I would react the exact same by putting Abigail’s things back in her room from when she was eight years old being naive to the fact that she is now 15 years old and a teenager. 
I enjoyed the book being from both Anne and Abigail’s cousin Jess’ perspective. Jess has remained quite childlike since Abigail has been abducted which Abigail struggles to handle and often lashes out at Jess.
I couldn’t guess what any of the ‘little lies’ were going to be and the last few chapters really had me holding my breath. 
I really wasn’t expecting the situation that happened with the abductor, very clever!
I will definitely be looking out for more by the author.

Abigail is found after having disappeared for 7 years. Everybody should be delighted and everything should end happily, but somehow something isn’t right, someone in the family is hiding something and events spiral out of control.
I loved this book, a little slow at the start although due to the subject matter it compelled me to keep reading to find out the truth and soon I couldn’t put it down.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ UK for letting me review this book.

Well this is my first review. So here goes... Upon starting this book I was a little unsure of its direction. Loved the easy going slow pace it had, which be a cause of the way it was written drew me in without me even realising it had. Beautifully written with great character detail, loved the way it swapped and changed between all the main characters. This certainly kept you on your toes. Great ending, thoroughly enjoyed. Can’t wait for more by. Philippa West. 👍

When Abigail is snatched from outside a London tube station  at the age of 8, her family were distraught and did everything they could to find her abductor, to no avail. But now, seven years later, she’s reappeared and returns to her home. But can their lives ever recover from her long years of incarceration?

At times slow moving, Little White Lies was still a powerful story, showing how tiny mistakes and actions can snowball into a serious incident.  Throughout the book, it is clear that Abigail’s mum, Anne, was hiding a secret from her family, which was linked to Abigail’s disappearance. It is only at the end, as the abductor is brought to trial, that the full story is revealed, and each character’s actions made clear. I did find the scene after the trial, with Abigail and Jess rather confusing, but I guess it needed something to help bring closure to the story.

Overall, quite enjoyable, if a little slow paced in parts.

Your child went missing 7 years ago but now has been found....surely this is your dream come true and everything will be well now?

Little white lies shows how the truth is far more complicated than this. It is a story of intricate, complex relationships within a family, all of which have a hand in the events of 7 years ago. 

I love how the book shows us how relationships evolve over time and more importantly how this is ok and in fact necessary. 

The story is told from the mother and niece’s view points and although at times it felt strange not to have Abigail’s view point  the book worked well. The emotions, guilt and confusion of all the characters comes across strongly. 

A gripping read, a rollercoaster of emotions.

Anna lost her daughter in a split second. Seven years later Abigail returns.  Will the family ever be the same?  How much does Abigail remember about that day? The family struggling to come to terms with everything . What did really happen? This story has lots of twists and turns that just keep getting better but you won’t be able to put down.  Thank you met galley for the early read

Little White Lies by Philippa East is a cracking debut novel that will have the reader’s heart racing to the end. It is a superb contemporary psychological thriller that deals with guilt and what-ifs.
Once a lie is out there and compounded it spirals out of control. The truth lies buried for fear of making a bad situation even worse.
Lives on hold for seven years hope to resume happy families but restoration seems impossible as everyone seems to be keeping secrets. High expectations were unrealistic.
Childhood bonds resume but some things are too broken to be fixed.
The reader becomes involved in the story as it is told from several alternating points of view. We are aware of the guilt, lies and cover-up we just do not know what it is that is being hidden.
Little White Lies was cleverly constructed with realistic and believable characters. Families are more complicated underneath than the surface shows. 
I devoured this book as it consumed my every waking moment. Philippa East is clearly has tremendous talent and I cannot wait to read more by her.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

I found this hard to read because of the subject matter but it was hard to put down nice I started. Abigail is abducted aged 8 and 7 years later walks into a police station with another child. She is returned to her family and they try to build their family again. However there are secrets behind what happened on that day and guilt shared by all the adults involved. There is a bewildered teenager trying to remember and understand what happened. Everything culminates at the trial and the pieces are put together - the ultimate betrayal is faced - the parents did not keep the child safe. The book ends with an unexpected twist.

Hard to read but well worth the effort. A book I will be recommending.