The Returners

London teenager Will Hodge is miserable. His mother is dead, his father's political leanings have grown radical, and his friends barely talk to him. To top it off, he's having nightmares about things like concentration camps. Then Will notices he's being followed by a group of people who claim to know him from another time in history. It turns out they are Returners, reincarnated people who carry with them the memory of atrocities they have witnessed in the past. Will realizes that he, too, is a Returner. But something about his memories is different, and with dawning horror, Will suspects that he wasn't just a witness to the events, he was instrumental in making them happen. Set in the near future, with the world on the verge of a new wave of ethnic cleansing, Will must choose to confront the cruelty he's known in his past lives, or be doomed to repeat it... Review Praise for The Returners: 'A challenging, compelling and flawless stand-alone novel from an emerging talent ... Metaphysical teenage fiction at its best' Bookseller 'Chilling and thought-provoking' Rosemary Good, School Librarian 'Both compelling and challenging - another powerful novel from a critically acclaimed author' Bookfest About the Author Gemma Malley studied philosophy at Reading University before working as a journalist. She is the author of The Declaration and The Resistance , and lives in London with her husband and two young children. Will Hodges' life is a mess! His mother is dead, he has no friends and he thinks he is being followed by a strange group of people who tell him they know him. But Will can't remember them . . . at first. And when he does, he doesn't like what he can remember. While Will is struggling with unsettling memories, he learns that his past is a lot deeper than many people's, and he has to find out if he is strong enough to break links with the powerful hold that history has on him. This compelling novel, set in an alternate future, challenges readers to consider the role we all have to play in making our society, and asks how much we are prepared to stand up for what's right. Will Hodges wonders why "freaks" began following him after his mother drowned, but when he finally discovers what they want, he can begin to make sense of the nightmares he has always had and try to do something about the anti-immigrant hatred that his father so vehemently espouses.