Opposite of Amber

'They found the fifth girl right after the snow melted . . . the place where he left her was winter water, crazed with ice-feathers and dusted with snow. The traces from her body were gone, the ones that said his name, but she had an extra skin of ice that protected her and she looked perfect, like Snow White.'Ruby and her older sister, Jinn, are on their own, just about making ends meet. Jinn is beautiful, with glittering blonde hair, and makes it her business to look after Ruby. They are horrified by, but try to ignore, the local newspaper stories of prostitutes who are murdered, their bodies eventually discovered underwater. Then the no-good Nathan Baird turns up on the scene - again - and Jinn starts to change and no longer has time to look after Ruby. And it seems to Ruby that Jinn herself needs looking after. Her beautiful glittering hair starts to lose its shine. And then Jinn disappears.A deeply moving, chilling, and incredibly powerful thriller that celebrates the love two sisters have for each other and mourns the events beyond their control that will conspire to drive them apart.

Praise for Crossing the Line: ‘An uncompromising exploration of the ruthless Darwinian world of teenagers. It's tough, rough-textured and assured, cynical where it needs to be, and demands respect', ‘Bleakly humorous, imbuing a difficult subject matter with warmth, intelligence and compassion', Praise for The Opposite of Amber: ‘It's beautifully written, tense and absorbing, and we can't recommend it highly enough', 'Gillian Phillips just gets better and better. I suspect there is nothing she can't write about. And I suspect there is nothing I won't read if it's by Gillian'

This is Gillian Philip's second novel for Bloomsbury, her first being Crossing the Line, which was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her first YA novel Bad Faith, was published by a small Scottish publishers. Gillian Philip lives in Elgin in the north of Scotland.