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The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Published by Vintage in 2008

The war is over and Gilbert Aldridge returns to his wife and son, Lewis, in the London suburb of Waterford. He reverts easily to suburban life—cocktails at six-thirty, church on Sundays—but his wife and young son resist the stuffy routine. Lewis and his mother escape to the woods for picnics, just as they did in wartime days. Lewis’s life is shattered when he witnesses his mother’s tragic demise. Always a cold and distant father, Gilbert shuts out all grief and quickly remarries, ignoring his son’s sadness until Lewis explodes in a violent rage.

After serving two years in prison, Lewis returns home seeking redemption and forgiveness, only to find himself ostracized by the close-knit community where appearances and conformity are valued above all else.

Not far away, Kit Carmichael keeps watch. She has always understood more than most, not least from what she is dealt by her own father's hand. Lewis's grief and burgeoning rage are all too plain, and Kit makes a private vow to help. But in her attempts to set them both free, she fails to foresee the painful and horrifying secrets that must first be forced into the open.
A wonderful novel of love, loss and redemption.

‘Set in post-WWII suburban London, this superb debut novel charts the downward spiral and tortured redemption of a young man shattered by loss. . . . Jones’s prose is fluid, and Lewis’s suffering comes across as achingly real.’ Publishers Weekly

‘A wonderfully assured first novel.’ The Guardian

About the author
Sadie Jones was born and brought up in London, where she still lives. The Outcast is her first novel.