Holme Valley

Nestled deep within Yorkshire's green rolling hills and moors, parental abuse, fear, and self-loathing are daily realities for eleven-year-old Dale Didier, with despair as constant as the clouds. He finds his only escape and hope for salvation from his troubled home life in Kyra, the "pretty girl" next door, only to learn that she has a liking for foul play, and enough of her own self-doubts to deal with. But at least "one thing was pretty back then." Despite betrayals from almost everyone out to clamp down on Dale's truant outbursts and cries for help, and with his younger brother Rory to protect, Dale's summer infatuation with this rough girl next door will change them both and everyone and everything around them forever. And for the better. As they grow out of and back into each other with each passing season, Dale and Kyra discover in each other a hope that can be even more constant and affecting than despair. HOLME VALLEY is Mark Charron's second novel.