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Back The Village Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A carton of eggs sat next to a bowl of sifted flour and caster sugar in the country home of the Harper family. The oven was warming, ready for a batch of cookies. The kitchen tap was running, a floury handprint on the nozzle. On the television, endless streams of cartoons played. Bonnie, the family dog, scratched at the back door to get in.

But there was no trace of Martin or Susan Harper, or their wheelchair-bound eight-year-old daughter Grace. A friend raised the alarm when Susan failed to answer the door. Mail sat in their letterbox outside. Their friends and family had not heard from them in days. To the outside world, it was as if the family had disappeared into thin air.

The quaint New Forest village of Nighbrook was in the grip of winter when the Harper family disappeared in January 2011. Martin Harper, a sales director for an international firm, had returned from a work trip abroad. His wife Susan was heading a fundraising campaign to help Grace, who was terminally ill. The couple were financially secure, with over fifty thousand pounds in the bank. The family were fondly thought of in their local village, and Grace’s sunny disposition was admired by all. Police found her empty wheelchair parked in the corner of the kitchen the day they disappeared. Martin Harper’s suitcase was half-unpacked on the bed of their family home. It was the mystery that puzzled the nation. There was no sign of forced entry or any evidence of a struggle. No unusual tyre tracks in the yard leading up to their home. No motivation of any kind for anyone to want to hurt the family who had lived at the address. Police interrogated phone records; the family computer was searched, but it showed nothing untoward. Speculation in the press revealed wild theories ranging from alien abduction to satanic cults to joint suicides. But anyone who knew them quickly dismissed these. ‘Martin had recently been promoted and was excited about the future,’ a family friend said. ‘Susan lived in hope of finding a cure for her daughter. She wanted more than anything for her to live a normal life. They would never have committed suicide, they were committed Catholics.’

Ten years on, where is the Harper family? Despite in-depth investigations by local law enforcement officers, there are no answers to be found.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE