Silent Night
The snow falls softly, a pristine blanket over the charming Cotswolds village in White Hollow7. Ava arrives, a surprise Christmas visit to mend years of distance with her mother. But the picture-perfect cottage is dark, silent. Her mother is gone.
Everyone, including the handsome local antiques dealer, Rory, shrugs it off as an unexpected holiday. But Ava feels a prickle of dread. This isn't like her mother. And then she finds it: her mother's secret obsession with the unsolved disappearance of a little girl, decades ago.
As the village church bells toll and the snow deepens, Ava senses a presence. She's not alone in the house. This isn't a festive reunion. This Christmas, the silence isn't peaceful; it's terrifying.
- Ava - Christina’s daughter
- Christina Carter - Ava’s mother, author
- Diana - Christina’s literary agent
- Jenny - Ava’s friend
- Megan - Ava’s sister
- David - Ava’s ex-fiancé, Megan’s husband
- Rory - Antiques dealer
- Max - Cleaner, David’s stepbrother
- Susan - Missing girl
- Henry - Historian, former friend of Susan
- James - Christina’s neighbor
- Ava gets a letter from Christina asking her to come for Christmas and saying she needs Ava’s help even though they haven’t spoken in three years.
- Ava arrives at Christina’s cottage but cannot find Christina.
- There is an Airbnb next to Christina’s cottage.
- Ava sees someone in a creepy mask looking into the house through a window.
- Ava meets Rory in town, who says he knows Christina.
- Christina was writing a thriller based on the folklore of White Hollow.
- Ava calls the police and talks to Max, who says he heard Christina went on a cruise.
- Ava tells Rory how Megan had an affair with David while she was engaged to him and Christina sided with Megan and that’s why she stopped speaking to her family.
- Ava finds and reads Christina’s manuscript, The Stolen Children.
- Diana tells Ava that several weeks ago Christina told her that she was being harassed.
- Someone steals the manuscript.
- Ava tries to return to London, but her car has a flat tire.
- Henry slips a missing persons report into Ava’s letterbox. It’s about Susan, who went missing during the Christmas Eve parade when she was six.
- Ava thinks Susan’s disappearance is what The Stolen Children is based on.
- On Christmas Eve, someone drops off a card that says, ‘I’m coming for you.’
- Ava sees someone in the cottage and hides, but a gunshot from outside scares them off.
- Ava flees from the cottage and is found walking along the road by Max.
- Max takes her to the police station, where she finds out he’s not a police officer.
- She tries to leave the station and bumps into David.
- David says Megan kicked him out on Christmas Day and he lost his US visa and Megan’s daughter is not his.
- David owns the Airbnb next to Christina’s cottage and has been holding Christina there until she helps him get Megan back.
- David admits to being the guy in the mask, slashing Ava’s tire and the threatening card.
- David locks Ava up with Christina.
- At David’s request, Ava calls Megan and tells her to come to White Hollow.
- Megan arrives and David serves the women Christmas dinner.
- Ava falls unconscious and wakes up in the hospital.
- Rory and James had seen the women tied up in the cottage and forced their way in.
- David and Max are arrested.
- Ava decides to let the past go and starts rebuilding a relationship with Megan.
- Henry returns Christina’s manuscript. She had given him a key and permission to take it and edit it.
- Henry and Christina believe Susan was taken by an illegal adoption ring masquerading as a charity that saved children from difficult home lives. The ring paid parents not to report the kidnappings because they believed their children were being given better lives.
- Christina tells Ava that she bought Ava from the adoption ring after having a stillborn baby.
- Two years later: Rory and Ava are living together.
- David pleads guilty and is sentenced to eleven years.
- Max is found guilty of murdering his girlfriend and sentenced to life in prison.
- Christina publishes her book about the stolen child ring and tells the press about the true story it was based on.
- While the whole family is at Ava and Rory’s house for Christmas, Susan shows up to visit Ava and Christina.
Natasha Boydell sets a quiet, mysterious mood in Silent Night. The story is told entirely from Ava’s point of view in the present tense, with short chapters. Ava is an easy character to root for, which helps anchor things as the book leans into its slow-burn pacing. The writing is great, and while the measured plot requires a little patience, the lingering sense of the unknown held my attention from start to finish.
The main twist lands well and delivers a satisfying payoff. Alongside that, a side mystery plays out and ends with a genuine shocker though I didn’t not like how that secondary plot wraps up. Instead of threading those details naturally throughout the story, the answers get dumped on the reader in the final few chapters. I wish there had been a bit more discussion about it earlier so the conclusion felt earned rather than rushed at the end.
If you like slow-burn tension and present-tense mysteries, then you will enjoy this book.
- Megan - Alive - Reconciled with Ava
- Ava - Alive - Living with Rory and reunited with her family
- Christina - Alive - Reunited with Ava
- David - Alive - Serving eleven year prison sentence
- Rory - Alive - Living with Ava
- Max - Alive - Serving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend
- Kidnapping
- Violence
- Infant death
ISBN: 9781805571322
Publication Date: August 2, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
