THE OUTCAST by Sadie Jones
                                                                          
A mesmerizing portrait of 1950s hypocrisy and unexpected love.  It is 1957 and Lewis Aldridge, straight out of prison, is journeying back to his home in Waterford, a suburban town outside London.  He is 19 years old, and his return will have dramatic consequences, not just for his family,  but for the whole community.

A decade earlier, his father's homecoming has a very different effect.  The war is over and Gilbert has been demobilized.  He reverts easily to suburban life - cocktails at 6.30, 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.  Nobody is surprised that Gilbert's wife counters convention, but they are all shocked when, after one of their jaunts, Lewis comes back without her.

Not far away, Kit Carmichael keeps watch.  She has always understood more than most, not least from what she is dealt by her 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.