Out Of The Picture - Tapa dura

Picture this, says Lizzie. The door is open and my father, that's my real father, Jack is standing there at the end of the bathroom, silent as a ghost, watching my mother and me through the steam. He drops his arms by his side, as though gravity has got the better of him. This is more than I deserve, he says, and leaves. Forever.'
Quite unlike her fair stepsisters, Lizzie is dark and secretive: 'Just like your father' says her mother. But what was her father like? Photos of him are hidden away; snatches of overheard conversation between her mother and her stepfather deepen the mystery. Only her best friend Savannah - also abandoned by her father when she was a baby - knows what it feels like to wonder, to try and piece together an earlier story. But when events propel Lizzie alone to London she stops wondering and starts searching...
Beautifully evoking the ache of childhood loss, the scrappy joys of chaotic families, and the hurt and relief of understanding, Picture This reveals Polly Samson's talent for laying bare the uncomfortable truths that lie just under the skin - in every family, in every secret.