The seemingly picturesque small town of Chapel Croft holds a dark history, filled with secrets. Some are old--the Sussex Martyrs, villagers burned at the stake in the 1500s, including two young girls said to still haunt the chapel. Doll-like effigies made of twigs are burnt each year in their remembrance. Then there are two teenage best friends who went missing decades ago, never to be found, Merry and Joy. And, most recently, the suicide of the vicar inside the church.

It’s that most recent tragedy that brings Reverend Jack Brooks and her teenage daughter Flo to Chapel Croft. Assigned as the new town vicar, Jack has her own secrets, and if she’d hoped to escape them here, she quickly learns that won’t be easy. She’s met by a young girl covered in blood and a suspicious, judgmental community. Flo receives an uneasy welcome of her own, making a single friend, a boy who is the target of the town bullies. In Chapel Croft, secrets have a way of coming to light in a blaze that may burn them all.

Acclaimed author C.J. Tudor’s fourth novel, The Burning Girls, may be her most masterful yet. In her gripping exploration of trauma and truth, she unveils revelations about humanity that are both surprising and profound.