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The First Day of Spring

The First Day of Spring

CrimeMystery
Pages
352
Published
2021
Language
English

Synopsis

Eight-year-old Chrissie feels an exhilarating sense of power after committing a terrible act, a feeling she rarely experiences at home. Years later, living under a new name as a mother, Chrissie is determined to protect her daughter from the hardships she endured. But when the past begins to surface through threatening calls, Chrissie fears her carefully constructed life and her child are in danger.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkTenseCreepyThought-ProvokingComplex
Morally GreySecret IdentityDual TimelineComing of Age

Genres

Crime Mystery Psychological Thriller Thriller

About the author

N
Nancy Tucker

Nancy Tucker is a British author and assistant psychologist based in Oxford and London. Before turning to fiction, she wrote two memoirs about mental health, The Time in Between (2015) and That Was When People Started to Worry (2018), drawing on her own experience of anorexia and bulimia. She holds a degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford and has worked in inpatient and adult mental health services. Her debut novel, The First Day of Spring (2021), was inspired by the rea...

Characters

ChrissieProtagonist
Molly (The First Day of Spring)Supporting

The young daughter Chrissie, now living as Julia, is raising and trying to protect from her own past.

Steven (The First Day of Spring)Supporting

The two-year-old whose death in the opening pages the whole novel proceeds from.

All characters in The First Day of Spring

Frequently asked questions

  • Is The First Day of Spring based on a true story?

    It's inspired by, though not a direct retelling of, the real case of Mary Bell, a child convicted in England in the 1960s of killing two young children, who was later released and given a new identity. Nancy Tucker used that case as a starting point for a wholly fictional story.

  • Is The First Day of Spring a standalone novel?

    Yes — it's Nancy Tucker's debut novel and a complete standalone story, not part of a series.

  • What content warnings apply to The First Day of Spring?