num_pages: 368
description: Alice aged four is snatched by her mother the day she is due to arrive at Cathy's house. Drug-dependent and mentally ill but desperate to keep hold of her daughter Alice's mother snatches her from her parents' house and disappears.Cathy spends three anxious days worrying about her whereabouts before Alice is found safe but traumatised. Alice is like a little doll so young and vulnerable and she immediately finds her place in the heart of Cathy's family. She talks openly about her mummy who she dearly loves and how happy she was living with her maternal grandparents before she was put into care. Alice has clearly been very well looked after and Cathy can't understand why she couldn't stay with her grandparents.It emerges that Alice's grandparents are considered too old (they are in their early sixties) and that the plan is that Alice will stay with Cathy for a month before moving to live with her father and his new wife. The grandparents are distraught  Alice has never known her father and her grandparents claim he is a violent drug dealer.Desperate to help Alice find the happy home she deserves Cathy's parenting skills are tested in many new ways. Finally questions are asked about Alice's father suitability and his true colours begin to emerge.
language: English
title: I Miss Mummy
publisher: HarperElement