Golden Child: Winner of the Desmond Elliot Prize 2019 - Tapa dura

Utterly convincing, horrifying and, ultimately, intensely moving. It's almost impossible to believe this small masterpiece is a first novel. Adam is a true and rare talent. I'm in awe. (Julie Myerson)

Partly a fable about choices and children; partly a sensual immersion into life in Trinidad; and wholly a bracing, brave and wise corrective to Western sentimentality about poverty and migration, I was enthralled, appalled and finally very moved by this story. (Kate Clanchy)

Luminous and devastating. (Francesca Segal)

Golden Child is an impressive debut: closely focused, quietly powerful and compelling. (Romesh Gunesekera)

Golden Child swells with wisdom about masculinity, family, violence and sacrifice. I read it in a sitting, gripping the pages, nails chewed down by the final word. An intense, heart-breaking debut. (Daniel Magariel, author of ONE OF THE BOYS)

Golden Child is a stunning novel written with force and beauty. Though true to herself, Adam's work stands tall beside icons of her tradition like V.S. Naipaul. (Jennifer Clement, author of GUN LOVE)

It's been a long time since I've read a book so funny I've felt compelled to Instagram pages of it with 1000x crying Emojis - but this is exactly how I felt reading this book (Cate Sevila The Pool)

'Gripping . . . a devastating account of loss, love and sacrifice, written in a lucid, atmospheric prose.' (1843)

'An examination of parenthood . . . Adam is subtle and delicate in her portrayal of the unique stresses of being the favourite child and the one on whom the future rests. Overall, this book manages to combine two things rarely bound together in the same spine: a sensitive depiction of family life and the page-flicking urgency of a thriller. And it will leave you wondering what you would have done in Clyde's place. (Rowan Hisayo Buchanan Guardian)

'This novel follows a family that find themselves having to choose between the fates of their twin sons when one of them, on whose future they hadn't invested as much as in his brother's, is kidnapped in the night. Set in Trinidad in the 1980s, this is an atmospheric literary work which hooks like a thriller. It's also Sarah Jessica Parker's imprint's second release in the States.' (Elle)

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2019 LONGLISTED FOR THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FIRST BOOK AWARD It's dark now; the bats are out. Insects knock against the light on the patio and the dog sits at the gate. A boy has not returned home and a family anxiously awaits. A father steps out into the night to search for his son. As the hours turn into days, this man will learn many things. He will learn about being a father to twin boys who are in no way alike. He will learn how dangerous hopes and dreams can be. He will learn truths about Trinidad, about his family, and himself. He will question received wisdom and question his judgement. He will learn about sacrifice and the nature of love - and he will be forced to act. Claire Adam's electrifying first novel reckons with the secrets of the human heart. It tells a story about wanting more for our children; it casts its spell with uncommon wisdom and grace.