The Bear

Longlisted for the Women's Fiction PrizeMummy never yells. Mostly not ever. Except sometimes.Anna is five. Her little brother Stick is almost three. They are camping with their parents in Algonquin Park in three thousand square miles of wilderness. It's the perfect family trip. But then Anna awakes in the night to the sound of something moving in the shadows. Her father is terrified. Her mother is screaming. Then silence.Alone in the woods it is Anna who has to look after Stick battling hunger and the elements to stay alive. Narrated by Anna this is white-knuckle storytelling that captures the fear wonder and bewilderment of our worst nightmares - and the power of one girl's enduring love for her family.