'The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted. Trisha McFarland discovered this when she was nine years old. Lost in the woods. Trying not to be terrified, trying not to let herself think that sometimes when people got lost in the woods they got seriously hurt. Sometimes they died.'

Trisha McFarland had only veered off the trail to get away from the bickering of her brother and her recently divorced mother. She doesn't think there's any chance of losing her way.

Except, in her panic to get back on the path, Trisha takes a turning that leads into the tangled undergrowth. Deeper and deeper into the terrifying woods. At first it's just the midges and mosquitoes, hanging around her ears like helicopters, trying to drink her blood and sip her sweat. Then the hunger. For solace she tunes her Walkman into broadcasts of the Red Sox baseball games and the performances of her hero Tom Gordon. And when the reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her.

As darkness begins to fall, Trisha begins to give up hope of being found. Alive. And as she struggles for survival and a way out, she realises that she's not alone. There's something else in the woods - watching. Waiting....

A classic story that engages our emotions at the most primal level, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, explores our deep dread of the unknown and the extent to which faith can conquer it. Aglow with a girl's indomitable spirit, it is at once a powerful fairytale, an outstanding allegory, and a brilliant contemporary portait of a girl and her sports hero.