In Her Defence

ebook / ISBN-13: 9781399721745

Price: £22

ON SALE: 3rd February 2026

Genre: Legal Thriller / Suspense

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

‘Smart, elegant and endlessly unsettling’ ABIGAIL DEAN
‘A brilliant mix of courtroom drama, psychological thriller and love story’ JP DELANEY
‘A stunning debut’ ERIN KELLY
‘I was completely hooked from the first page to the very last!’ MEGAN MIRANDA
‘Beautifully written and brilliantly addictive’ VALERIE KEOGH
‘Haunting and twisty’ LIV CONSTANTINE
‘I devoured it’ DEBBIE HOWELLS
‘A star-making debut’ JULIA HEABERLIN

Everyone is watching . . .

Wealthy and famous, Anna Finbow stands in court, accusing therapist Jean Guest of brainwashing her daughter Mary to gain access to her trust fund.

Jean claims that the dark memories she’s helped Mary uncover are real. That therapy has offered her a chance to finally heal from childhood trauma, and she would be better off away from her family’s damaging influence.

I’ll tell you now . . . you shouldn’t believe either of them.

A fiercely intelligent psychological thriller of obsessive friendship, toxic families and the precarious nature of therapy, from an exceptional new talent.

READERS ARE RAVING ABOUT IN HER DEFENCE

‘WHAT. A. BOOK. I just finished and I am totally shook’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Twisty, thrilling and unputdownable. If I could give it more than five stars I would’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘This book is so suspenseful it practically feels like horror’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Razor-sharp plotting and deeply believable characters’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I LOVE a courtroom drama, but this was so much more!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reviews

A brilliant, star-making debut - a potent courtroom drama packed with complex characters, deft psychological twists, and buttery prose. The narrator is not so much unreliable as a mystery even to herself, and you'll be reading way past midnight to solve the puzzle of who she is
Julia Heaberlin, bestselling author of BLACK-EYED SUSANS
A haunting and twisty story of obsession, memory, and the blurred line between healing and harm. Part courtroom drama, part psychological love story, In Her Defence will stay with you long after you've turned the final page
Liv Constantine, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of THE LAST MRS. PARRISH
A mesmerising, intricately plotted psychodrama you won't be able to put down (or forget). Beautifully written, this is as assured a debut as they come - I inhaled it
Otegha Uwagba, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK
A riveting, seductive novel about the exploitation of power and control, expertly crafted and not to be missed!
Sophie Stava, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of COUNT MY LIES
A stunning debut that jumps deftly between courtroom thriller and a twisting, tender tale of lust, trust, friendship and betrayal
Erin Kelly, internationally bestselling author of HE SAID / SHE SAID
I devoured it in one day. It's tense, twisted and beautifully written, and both an unsettling and compelling story of obsession and vulnerability
Debbie Howells, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE BONES OF YOU
Philippa Malicka delivers both a twisting courtroom trial and a haunting character study in this wholly absorbing debut. In Her Defence explores the reliability of memory, the shifting nature of truth, and the fine line between obsession and love. I was completely hooked from the first page to the very last!
Megan Miranda, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of YOU BELONG HERE
Smart, elegant, and endlessly unsettling. This is a novel full of delicious, vivid details: the ambiguous characters, the unforgettable settings, the unnerving psychology
Abigail Dean, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of GIRL A
What a beautifully written debut! Compulsively readable, a brilliant mix of courtroom drama, psychological thriller and love story, it pulls off the rare trick of being an unputdownable page-turner with real emotional depth. I can't wait to see what Malicka does next!
JP Delaney, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE GIRL BEFORE