THE DAY I DIED
The Day I Died
Polly Courtney
UK rights: HarperCollins (Avon)
All other rights available
'A dark, thrilling read .... not your average slice of chick lit' - Closer Magazine
Can you walk away from your own life?
It's 4am, London and a young woman comes to amidst sirens and screams - the result of a bomb that has left utter carnage in its wake. Wearing the remains of a tattered black dress and wrapped in a filthy blanket, she is utterly unaware of where and - more importantly - who she is. Disorientated by overwhelming feelings of shame and guilt, the woman picks up an abandoned wallet from the gutter and, following her instincts, flees the scene.
Escaping on a bus into a remote country village, she adopts the name 'Jo' in place of the identity that still eludes her. Jo quickly builds herself a new life in the country, finding a job and settling into a new community. But fragmented pieces of her past keep encroaching on her present - from the realisation that she is an alcoholic, to a chance meeting with a man that triggers flashbacks - and Jo is forced to solve the mystery of her own identity. But as she pieces together her past - and in doing so uncovers some shocking secrets about her old life - can Jo face the truth of who she is really is?
Dark, disturbing and utterly enthralling women's fiction from a growing new UK talent.
Polly Courtney was brought up in London after a brief period in the United States.At sixteen she transferred to an all-boys grammar school, a move which was to stand her in good stead for the years to come.She spent twelve months testing engines and gearboxes at an automotive consultancy in Sussex, then went on to obtain a double first in Engineering from Cambridge.Along with many of her “high flying” peers, she was lured to the City by the promise of a lucrative, fast-paced career in the exciting world of high finance.What she discovered was something very different.
As soon as she set foot in the Square Mile, Polly realised that there was something to shout about.Being someone who doesn't hold back, she decided to write about how it really is for young graduates in the City, hence her first novel, Golden Handcuffs.She started writing in her first (and only) year at Merrill Lynch and quickly realised that words rather than numbers were where her real talent lay.Having quit banking, she is now working in strategy consulting as well as writing.She also devotes considerable time to her semi-professional all-girl string quartet, No Strings Attached, and to playing with a women's football team.
www.pollycourtney.com
