Alice is a precocious twelve-year-old growing up in rural Texas with one wish on her mind - to get rid of Simon Jester. Simon is the man who saved Alice's mother, Meg, from drowning. Simon is Meg's hero, her saviour - and her new husband. He's a mysterious man whose own family, he says, drowned in a nearby lake.
But what really happened? Alice and her brother become convinced that Simon intends to poison them. Meg tells her children they have wild imaginations, until one night she comes to kiss them and instead of her usual endearments, whispers a single word - run.
'The Absence Of Nectar' is a finely-wrought tale of suspense and deception. It skillfully and grippingly unfolds the story of how events came to this sorry pass, and the role played in them by infamous teenage runaway and murderess Persley Snow. The novel builds to a genuinely surprising climax and includes terrifically drawn scenes of the kids on the run.
