Overall, this is a very absorbing and powerful character study and a riveting story of resilience and survival and one I will not forget in a hurry. It takes a couple of minutes, and some re-reading of previous lines, to work out where the shift changes, and re-orientate yourself in the story. It is a dive into the deprived depths of human nature and the consequences for the people who are victims in that. A BFI, BBC Film, Creative Scotland presentation in association with Great Point Media of a Barry Crerar production.

The siblings wants to move forward, but having the house and Lex’s desire to do something with it will stir up memories that hurt, dark things that reach out form the past to affect who those kids grew up to be. I didn’t like any of the characters except the policeman that adopted Lex and, slightly, Doctor Kay. Child A’, read in a perfectly disinterested fashion by Holliday Grainger worked really well in this format.

As Bronte’s mother says: “Unless you want every secret in this place dragged to the surface, I recommend everybody in this room opens their mouths and starts talking. There was so little fluidity to the story, with snatches of detail about one aspect of the plot then followed by those of another, so it was all just extremely difficult to follow.

However, when the narrative inhabits the past—which makes it the present—the fear, isolation, and confusion are almost palpable. Alla base esistenze scombinate, insoddisfazione, frustrazione, rancore, ed altro, il tutto drappeggiato in una qualche fede cialtrona – qui di origine cristiana: ma poi verso la fine anche Cristo al Padre della famiglia appare troppo moderato, fiacco – bibbia fissa sul tavolo, educazione e cultura fatta in casa, via dalla scuola e via da qualsiasi frequentazione, niente contatto sociale, via dal mondo, isolamento, segregazione. Girl A by Abigail Dean was the fifth book I read in 2021 and it ricocheted straight onto my books of the year list; it is that good. a recruitment officer representing four Russell Group universities asked an undercover reporter for the Sunday Times.

But Girl A is not a book about the act that triggered trauma, it is a study of the aftermath, carried out with a meticulous eye for the needs of its survivors.