Clare Sambrook lives in Cumbria, where she is working on her next book. In November 2010 Clare won the Paul Foot Award and the Bevins Prize for outstanding investigative reporting, for stories about the government’s policy of detaining asylum-seeking families in places known to damage their mental health.
More about the End Child Detention Now press campaign can be found on Claire's webpage Last publication: HIDE AND SEEK - CANONGATE, JANUARY 2005
Meet Harry Pickles, aged nine and a bit. Harry is the fastest boy
runner in the world (probably), first son of Mo and Pa (the
best-looking parents in the school car park), big brother to Daniel
(who runs like a girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star). His life
is good. He's premier league. At least, that's the way it was before
the school trip...
Clare Sambrook's unforgettable first novel captures
with startling truth and clarity the perspective of a confused
nine-year-old. Poignant and personal, HIDE AND SEEK resonates with
authenticity and a brutal honesty that manages to be harrowing,
life-affirming and funny.
"'Hide and Seek is one of those rare novels you thrust at your friends
and say "Read this!". It's ultra-convincingly written from the view
point of a nine-year-old boy but it's a very adult read. Wise and funny
and searingly sad but ultimately heart-warming" Jacqueline Wilson
"What
a spectacular debut, heartbreaking and hilarious. This is one of those
books you'll never forget."
Jill Mansell
"Shockingly visceral, yet at
the same time surprisingly humorous, Sambrook has produced a
penetrating account of the effects of loss juxtaposed against the human
will to soldier on" Big Issue
"Touching, sad and very funny" Independent on Sunday
"Vivid and brave" Literary Review
"It is hard
enough to remember what it feels like to be a child and harder still to
recreate a child's voice convincingly. Yet that is what Clare Sambrook
manages to do with an impressive blending of style and pathos"
Financial Times
"Fans of Mark Haddon would be well advised to seek this
debut out" Daily Mail
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Hide & Seek 
