Dark Lullaby

For fans of Black Mirror and The Handmaid's Tale, in Dark Lullaby a mother desperately tries to keep her family together in a society where parenting standards are strictly monitored.

"This gripping thriller has everything: beautiful writing, shedloads of tension, family drama. It made me grateful for my fragile freedoms."

Emily Koch, author of If I Die Before I Wake

The world is suffering an infertility crisis, the last natural birth was over twenty years ago and now the only way to conceive is through a painful fertility treatment. Any children born are strictly monitored, and if you are deemed an unfit parent then your child is extracted. After witnessing so many struggling to conceive – and then keep – their babies, Kit thought she didn't want children. But then she meets Thomas and they have a baby girl, Mimi. Soon the small mistakes build up and suddenly Kit is faced with the possibility of losing her daughter, and she is forced to ask herself how far she will go to keep her family together.



Polly Ho-Yen lives in Bristol with her husband. She used to be a primary-school teacher and now writes fiction for children (9-12 year olds) with a sci-fi or fantasy twist. She has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. This is her first adult novel.