Black Widow

Sandy McCutcheon

The first of September was a special day for schoolchildren in Beslan, traditionally celebrated as the ‘Day of Knowledge’. But after September 2004 the day would be remembered for all the wrong reasons, when a group of terrorists took hostages at Beslan’s School Number One …

Real-life headlines have given Sandy McCutcheon the substance of a plot that wrestles with information and disinformation in a masterful telling of the betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict.

Six teachers of children killed in the school siege — Fatima, Tatyana, Madina, Zoia, Katya, and Alina — have come together to plan a unique memorial for the dead hostages. In a gripping role-reversal, they have become the hostage-takers, and a group of the terrorists are at their mercy.

But, as they come face to face with their arch enemies, each ‘black widow’ is forced to confront her own demons. What is justice? What price revenge? What price truth? Black Widow ratchets up the unbearable tension for an explosive showdown.

A taut and gripping psychological thriller, Black Widow is an astonishing achievement.

Sandy McCutcheon

Author photo

Sandy McCutcheon is a New Zealander who moved to Australia in the 1970s, where he works as a writer and broadcaster. He was producer and presenter of 'Australia Talks Back' for 15 years which is heard around Australia on ABC Radio National and overseas through Radio Australia and the Internet.

He has been awarded the International Kalevala Medal by the Finnish government for services to Finnish culture, and is the author of more than twenty plays, seven novels, and a number of non-fiction works including a memoir, The Magician's Son.

Sandy and his wife, photojournalist Suzanna Clarke, live in Brisbane and have a riad in the Old Medina of Fez in Morocco, which they maintain as a writing retreat.