Winner, CWA Debut Dagger and Luke Bitmead Bursary Award, 2009. Shortlisted, People's Book Prize, 2011.
They came for me, just like I knew they would. Luke had been dead for just three days.
Rose Wilks' life is shattered when her newborn baby Joel is admitted to intensive care.
Emma Hatcher has all that Rose lacks. Beauty. A loving husband. A healthy son. Until tragedy strikes and Rose is the only suspect.
Now, having spent nearly five years behind bars, Rose is just weeks away from freedom. Her probation officer Cate must decide whether Rose is remorseful for Luke's death, or whether she remains a threat to society. As Cate is drawn in, she begins to doubt her own judgment.
Where is the line between love and obsession? Can justice be served and, if so...by what means?
Ruth Dugdall is a British crime writer. She worked for almost a decade in the criminal justice system as a probation officer, specialising in the most extreme crimes when she was seconded to a high security prison. Her first novel, The James Version, is a historical fiction based on the notorious murder of Maria Marten in the Red Barn, Suffolk. The Woman Before Me, the first novel to feature probation officer Cate Austin, won the CWA Debut Dagger, the 2009 Luke Bitmead Bursary Award and was shortlisted for the 2011 People's Book Prize. The Sacrifical Man is Ruth's third novel.
textpublishing.com.au
'The Woman Before Me - a slow burn of a book that examines the nature of obsession with a unique depth; wider and broader than Anita Shriver or Jodi Picoult. It demonstrates with forensic accuracy, the horrifying results of what can happen when an unloved child grows up and becomes a mother. With a prodigious plotline and heart-breakingly flawed, real human beings as characters, TWBM builds to its formidable, shocking climax. I was spellbound by it.' Gabrielle Lord
'Dark, disturbing and authentic.' CWA judging panel
'Impressive in its unflinching realism, this is a dark and haunting psychological thriller that possesses both depth and sensitivity.' Crime Time
'Authentic...diverting.' Daily Mail
'Just when I thought I'd got it sussed, I'm proved wrong. This is a clever and suspenseful story told in an engaging style.' Book Bag
'One of the most disturbing novels I have read in a long time, The Woman Before Me is about the illusionary balance between the status quo, obsessive love, and the search for happiness...Dugdall also successfully creates smooth and well signposted transitions between past and present events. She takes ordinary people and makes them extraordinary by placing them into unusual and highly stressful situations, bringing them to the brink of destruction. The Woman Before Me is definitely a page-turner and will have readers questioning Ruth's innocence or guilt a number of times throughout the novel. This uncertainty will leave readers breathlessly anxious until the very last page, where the truth is revealed.' Artshub
'Mesmerisingly compelling...gradually revealing a story of loneliness and obsession that builds to a truly chilling climax.' Sunday Star Times
'Most thrillers are the literary equivalent of fast food for me, gratifying, quickly devoured and soon forgotten. The Woman Before Me is far more satisfying, combining the tension of the best thrillers with credible characters who linger long after this heartbreaking story is done...A book you can't put down, nor stop thinking about.' Angela Savage
