Front Page Fridays Week-59
Front Page Fridays Week-59
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-59. On Fridays I showcase the first page of a new book.
My Front Page Fridays Week-59 guest is Hilly Barmby with the first page of her brand-new psychological thriller, The Boy in the Photo, published by Hobeck Books.
Here’s the opening:
Prologue
My mother told me, just before she left, that there is no such word as ‘hate’.
I said, ‘What other word is there, then?’ Hate was at the top of my list.
‘Loathe…’ She paused, her voice hoarse. ‘Detest, dislike, abhor—’
‘I loathe him, detest him… dislike?’ Shaking my head, I turned to look at her, but she couldn’t meet my eyes and kept her gaze firmly on something over my shoulder. ‘Dislike? That’s too soft a word. Abhor? That feels better.’ I blinked back tears and willed my hands to remain at my side, to not reach out to her. ‘Please, Mum. Don’t go.’
‘I have to. You know I do. You’ll be alright with him, but she won’t. I need to protect her—’
‘And not me?’ I was fifteen. ‘Why? Just because I’m a boy? Don’t I need protection from him, too?’
‘You’ll be all right.’ She chewed at the skin down the side of her thumb, ripping it with her teeth, drawing blood, which I knew was her ‘tell’. She was hurting, and it had to be made physical. It was as hard for her as me, but that wouldn’t stop her. I couldn’t stop her. ‘She’s still a little kid—’
‘I’m still a kid!’ Tears threatened, but I battled not to show it. ‘Please don’t go. Don’t leave me with him.’
‘I’m sorry. I love you so much—’
‘But you love her more.’ It was a statement. She didn’t love me enough. ‘Why can’t you take us both?’
She was silent for a moment. ‘If I leave him you, he might let us go.’ I understood what that meant. I was to be sacrificed to save them. Thrown under the bus. My kid sister had always been a conniving little shite. Some part of me was glad she was going. But the fact that Mum had picked her over me made me hate her even more. And hate was an appropriate word here, as she’d made my life miserable for years.
Through a blur of tears, I watched as her shadow slipped from the room. I never saw her again. And as for my sister, I heartily wished I hadn't!
About The Boy in the Photo:
Kaz Emmerson, brother Mark and sister Livy are devastated after the death of their parents in a car crash. Surely it was just a terrible accident, wasn’t it?
After the funeral, the three try to rebuild their lives as best they can. Livy turns her focus on her husband and young son. Mark immerses himself in work and rebuilding his social life. Kaz escapes the pain with bestie Elise, taking off to Spain for a couple of weeks for sun, sand and sangria.
While on holiday, Kaz and Elise chance upon the mysterious and handsome Ryan. They both like him. As it turns out, he lives rather close to home and when they return to the UK they meet up. But who will he pick?
The three siblings gather with their family lawyer who leaves them with a deep sense of unease. What is he not telling them? Curious, Kaz ploughs into the family paperwork stored in the attic of their parents’ grand country home. After a shocking discovery, she is embroiled in a family mystery that threatens to unravel everything. Who exactly is the boy in the photo with their father? Why is there a man sneaking around their garden taking photos? When more horrifying things happen, who can they trust? Is there someone who will stop at nothing to destroy them?
Purchase Link:
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CZFH7FY1
About Hilly Barmby
I’ve been a lady joiner and furniture maker, and I had a market stall selling my handmade chess and backgammon sets in Covent Garden, London. As a care worker, I have worked with kids with emotional/behavioural problems and spent fifteen years as a Design Technology teacher in Sussex. I now live on an organic farm on a mountain in Spain (but I’m not an Expat), where I write, paint (I’m part of a large artists’ group here), and make ceramics.
Social Media Links:
https://twitter.com/Hilly_Barmby
https://www.tiktok.com/@hillybarmby387
https://www.instagram.com/hillyollie
Hilly Barmby Author Website: being updated
https://www.facebook.com/HillyOllieBarmby
https://www.youtube.com/@HillyBarmbyAuthor-p6t
Books bio:
Bloodhound Books – Psychological thrillers: From My Cold Dead Hands and The Pact, published in 2022.
Hobeck Books – Psychological thrillers: Best Served Cold and Never Forgive You, published in 2023/4. A third book, What You See, was published in March 2025. My latest The Boy in the Photo launches on the 23rd of June 2026.
Self-published - Domestic thriller: Got What Was Coming published in May 2025.
Rom-com: Life Lessons published in August 2025
Scorpius Books – YA Dystopia: Glimpse will be published in July 2026.
This is the link to my thrillers (UK).
I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-59. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
1. Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha
2. Fatal Blow by Brian Price
3. Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins
4. The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford
5. Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby
6. The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon
7. The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray
8. Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake
9. The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood
10. The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson
11. Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler
12. Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant
13. Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber
14. Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey
15. The Shame by Maureen Myant
16. Dead Mile by Jo Furniss
17. The Violin and Candlestick by David Jarvis
18. New Memories by S.E. Shepherd
19. Young Blood by Victoria Gemmell
20. Private Investigations by Rob Gittins
21. The Car Horn revolution by A.J. Aberford
22. What Lies Beneath by Maureen Myant
23. A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty
24. Fatal Image by Brian Price
25. Run For Your Lies by A.A. Abbott
26. A Walk in the Park by Natalie Kleinman
27. A Storm in a Teacup by Rachael Gray
28. The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James
29. A Death in the Afternoon by Julie Anderson
30. Justice by Madalyn Morgan
31. Let Me Out by Amanda Brittany
32. A Pocketful of Poisons by Brian Price
33. Tribute by Madalyn Morgan
34. Mistress of the Manor by Cara Clayton
35. Waves of Change in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Chistensen
36. A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet
37. Beneath the Same Moon by AS Andrejevic
38. The Fallen by Maureen Myant
39. The Bad Women by Jennie Ensor
40. Lies Between Friends by AA Abbott
41. Fatal Shot by Brian Brice
42. The Alibi by Katharine Johnson
43. The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn
44. If I Were You by Helen Matthews
45. (Not Quite) Done With Dating by Bella Osborne
46. Poison at the Wild Haggis Bookshop by Jackie Baldwin
47. Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway by Mary-Jane Riley
48. Missing… Rose Malone by Linda Huber
50. 27 Church Street by A.J. Hobart
51. The Girls of Maple Close by Amanda Brittany
52. Growing Old Disgracefully by Karen King
53. Meet Me At Apple Blossom Lane by Anita Faulkner
54. Festival Days by Julie Anderson
55. The Conservatory by Anthony Aberford
56. Her Rising Star by Rachel Sargeant
57. Wonderful by Louise Beech