Misplaced Persons

From the author of the Costa Prize shortlisted The Good Guy

‘Susan Beale’s writing is alive with subtlety and flair. Her stories unspool with a confident voice, a relish for detail and deft shifts in perspective’ Tessa Hadley

The Yardley family is fracturing.

Eighteen years since their move to Brussels and the future is clouded with uncertainty for Neil, a Brit, American Marcy and their three Belgian-born children. Wrapped up in their own worries, Neil and Marcy fail to see how much their middle child, Alec, is struggling. When Marcy offers shelter to a young Syrian refugee, it triggers an explosive train of events that affects every member of the family.

Against a backdrop of growing terror threats and Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, Misplaced Persons astutely explores miscues and misunderstandings, the strength of family bonds and the meaning of home.