The Girl with the Green Eyes

Bella is defective. You need to take her back.

Nine-year-old Bella D’accourt has always known she was different; she was born into a controversial ‘designer baby’ eugenic programme, difference is in her DNA. Bella has been designed to be exceptionally beautiful, but when she uses her sadistic, manipulative charm to seriously injure another child her mother brings her back to her creators and demands they ‘fix her’.

Thus begins Bella’s new life among scientists and other eugenic ‘Subjects’ at the mysterious Aspira Research Centre in Cumbria. But an enemy lurks in the shining laboratories set among idyllic mountains; an obsessive, murderous enemy who will, years later, drive Bella from all she has worked for and into a desperate, night-time flee across the country with her daughter, whom she will protect at all costs.

But Ariana, 12, isn’t so sure she wants to be protected by Bella anymore.

watch trailer

About the author

J M Briscoe is a sci-fi author, journalist and stay-at-home-mum of three based in Berkshire, UK. She writes a strong female lead, bakes a mean birthday cake and has been known to do both simultaneously. This, her publishing debut, was long-listed for The Bridport Prize 2020. It is part one of a soft sci-fi trilogy called Take Her Back.

Read More

Why We Like It

  • Part one of the TAKE HER BACK trilogy
  • Long-listed for The Bridport Prize 2020
  • Follow J M Briscoe on Twitter @jm_briscoe or subscribe to her website www.jmbriscoe.co.uk for updates and exclusive Take Her Back content.

What readers are saying:

  • 'J M Briscoe’s dynamic use of descriptive imagery makes for a truly immersive reader experience. [She] picks the perfect description to give a feel for what it’s really like for the characters.'
  • 'Angela Carter meets Ursula Le Guin.'

J M (Jenny) Briscoe is a sci-fi author, journalist and stay-at-home-mum of three based in Berkshire, UK. She writes a strong female lead, bakes a mean birthday cake and has been known to do both simultaneously. This, her publishing debut, was long-listed for The Bridport Prize 2020. It is part one of a soft sci-fi trilogy called Take Her Back.

Jenny penned her first ‘novel’ at the age of 12. Several melodramatic tales (often involving twins, one of whom would invariably end up dying extravagantly) later, she honed her craft enough to earn a place on an English and Creative Writing BA at Royal Holloway, University of London. After graduating, she began her journalism career as a reporter with the local newspaper in her hometown of Dartmouth, Devon, before completing a PGDip in Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University. She has worked as a journalist for radio, TV, news websites and b2b trades magazines, but her true passion has always been writing fiction.

After becoming a mum in 2013, Jenny took the opportunity to write, launching a light-hearted parenting blog called Insert Future Here and penning a Young Adult novel (featuring twins) called The Thing About Amelia, long-listed for the 2016 Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition.

Jenny wrote The Girl with the Green Eyes in 2018/19 while pregnant with her third child. In 2020 it reached the top 20 of over 1,600 entrants to The Bridport Prize: Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award. Jenny is currently working on its two sequels. No twins have been hurt in the making. Yet.

Follow J M Briscoe on Twitter @jm_briscoe or subscribe to her website www.jmbriscoe.co.uk for updates and exclusive Take Her Back content.

How it works

The book will be delivered in 10 instalments (or staves), one every day. The instalments are delivered to your Pigeonhole bookshelf on your IOS or Android app. You will receive an email letting you know when each stave is available.

We believe that shared reading leads to new ideas and connections. That’s why we have a dynamic commenting system which allows in-text discussion between our readers. Post a comment and all your fellow readers will be able to respond. You can also choose to receive notifications (customise them here) when someone responds to your comment, or, additionally, whenever a comment is left in the book.

As you read you will see round purple icons at the edge of certain paragraphs – tap on these to reveal behind-the-scenes extra content!

Links will be included at the end of the final stave which will allow you to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.  
This book will be removed from the platform 14 days after the final stave.

Any questions? Drop us a line on laurence@pigeonholepublishing.com.

If you encounter any problems when reading on the app, please log out/in again. If this doesn't fix your issue, please reinstall the app. These simple steps will solve the majority of issues.

1. CHOOSE WHO
TO READ WITH

Join our commmunity of readers or read with friends in your own private book club.

2. PICK A BOOK
 

And read it in bite-sized instalments – called staves – that fit busy modern lives.

3. HIGHLIGHT AND DISCUSS
 

Save your favourite bits and leave thoughts to connect with fellow readers.

4. GET BEHIND
THE STORY

Beautiful extras in the margins immerse you in the world of each book.

More about us