title: The Family
author:  Martina Cole 
description: Martina Cole is the acknowledged queen of crime drama with over twenty novels to her name, of which over a dozen have been No.1 bestsellers.<br /><br />Several of Martina's novels have been adapted for the screen, including<i>The Take</i>and<i>The Runaway</i>which were shown on<i>Sky 1</i>to remarkable reviews. In addition,<i>Two Women</i>and<i>The Graft</i>have been adapted for the stage; both were highly acclaimed when performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, which also staged<i>Dangerous Lady</i>in 2012, celebrating twenty years since Martina's debut novel was published.<br /><br />Martina Cole is a phenomenon. She continues to smash sales records with each of her books, which have sold thirteen million copies. In 2011 Martina surpassed the 50 million sales mark since records began and was the first British female novelist for adult audiences to achieve this - and she has spent more weeks in the No. 1 slot on the original fiction bestseller list than any other adult novelist. Her hard-hitting, uncompromising and haunting writing is in a genre all its own - no one writes like Martina.
zlib_text: **The Family** ****
  
  **Martina Cole**
  
    
  
  ![](Images/image00270.jpeg)
  
  * * *
  
  Copyright © 2010 Martina Cole
  
  The right of Martina Cole to be identified as the Author of
  
  the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the
  
  Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
  
  First published in Great Britain in 2010 by
  
  HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
  
  1
  
  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication
  
  may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by
  
  any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or,
  
  in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the term
  
  of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
  
  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any
  
  resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
  
  Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
  
  ISBN 978 0 7553 7549 3 (Hardback)
  
  ISBN 978 0 7553 7550 9 (Trade paperback)
  
  Typeset in Galliard by Avon DataSet Ltd,
  
  Bidfo