Faber snaps up Hamer's 'extraordinary' Girl in the Red Coat sequel

Faber has acquired The Lost Girls, Kate Hamer’s follow-up to her bestselling The Girl in the Red Coat. 

Associate publisher Louisa Joyner obtained UK and Commonwealth rights from Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown. Crime editor Sara Helen Binney will publish the novel in February 2023.

The Lost Girls continues the story of Carmel, who went missing for five years as a child, and her mother Beth. "When The Lost Girls opens, Beth is desperate to return to normality," the synopsis reads. "After a long ordeal, her daughter is finally home. But Carmel has questions she can’t ignore about the cult that kidnapped her and about the preacher who gave her another girl’s name.

"Digging into her past, Carmel uncovers secrets that suggest she wasn’t the only lost girl – and which put her in danger all over again. While her mother struggles to salvage the security they’ve only just found, Carmel tries to come to terms with who she has become. But she remains haunted by the mystery at the heart of her disappearance as a child: what happened to the other lost girls?"

The Girl in the Red Coat was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger. It has sold more than150,000 copies across formats and territories to date, according to the publisher. Hamer’s two later novels, The Doll Funeral and Crushed, were also published by Faber.

"I’m so excited that The Lost Girls will be out in the world soon," she said. "These characters have remained close to my heart since writing The Girl in the Red Coat, and I’m thrilled to be able to continue their journey."

Binney said: "I’m delighted to be publishing this extraordinary book onto the crime list at Faber. The Lost Girls is not only a brilliant page-turner, with the tension between the characters reaching unbearable heights, it’s also incredibly wise and insightful about complicated mother–daughter relationships and the legacy of past trauma. A triumph!"