Meet the Newells, a big family of good lookers and hard grafters.

From their sleepy working class backwater, the siblings break into Oxford academia, London's high life, the glossy world of magazine publishing and the stratospheric riches of New York's hedge funds.

Then there's Paddy, the wrong'un in their midst, who has just been released from prison for dangerous driving.

As things fall apart around his sister Bea, is Paddy behind it all? And why does matriarch Edie turn a blind eye to her son's malevolence? Will she stand by and watch while he wrecks the lives of her other children? Just how much is she willing to sacrifice to protect her son?



Cathy was born and brought up in Africa, living in tiny communities in the heart of the African bush. She worked in Durban for two years after leaving school, then decamped to the UK and worked in the City for 20 years.



She's the editor of fictionjunkies.com, a website which publishes short stories of all genres by authors around the world. Her first novel, The Wrong'un, was published by Unbound in 2018.



Cathy is a trustee of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival and organises the annual ChipLitFest Short Story competition, which usually receives around 300 entries every year. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and daughter. She also has three grown-up stepdaughters.



Have you ever seen film of a collapsing tower block in reverse? Disconnected blocks, random bricks, haphazard detail that rise to a sublime structure in which every piece fits, makes sense and thrills: that's The Wrong'un for you. It's a terrific story brilliantly and economically told, a great read with some very believable and nuanced characters and some quite chilling moments.



A riveting reading with characters narrating their version of events in this dramatic, intriguing family story, full of unexpected twists and revelations.

What determines who we are, who we become? Is it genes, an early life experience, certain dramatic events? ... What's hidden inside 'the teddy bear'? ... It was hard to put the book down. I noticed that I was waking up in small hours in anticipation of finding out what happens next. A real page turner!