The past isn't dead. It isn't even past ...Jodie Garrow is a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks when she falls pregnant. Scared, alone and desperate to make something of her life, she makes the decision to adopt out her baby; and tells nobody. Twenty-five years on, Jodie has built a whole new life and a whole new family. But when a chance meeting brings the illegal adoption to the notice of the authorities, Jodie becomes embroiled in a nationwide police investigation for the missing child, and the centre of a media witch hunt. Did something sinister happen to Jodie's baby the night it was born? The fallout from Jodie's past puts her whole family under the microscope, and her husband and daughter must re-examine everything they believed to be true. An utterly engrossing exploration of what happens to an Australian family, seemingly just like any other, when a long-buried secret surfaces and a mother's dirty laundry is aired in front of the entire nation. The Mistake brilliantly explores the media's powerful role in shaping public perceptions and asks the haunting question: can we ever truly know another person?
PRAISE FOR WENDY JAMES' BOOKS 'A brilliantly cut literary gem sparkling from every angle.' Sydney Morning Herald 'Absolutely amazing ...There is something for everyone in this fantastic book.' 4 stars, Australian Bookseller & Publisher A penetrating picture of our life and times ...a knockout.' Canberra Times 'James's sure hands leads us through sometimes harrowing, sometimes redemptive moments in her beautifully rounded characters lives.' 4 stars, Who Weekly 'Cunning psychological portraits and clean prose make for an absorbing domestic thriller.' The Age | 
