A rumour is like a fire. You might think you've extinguished it but one creeping, red tendril, one single wisp of smoke is enough to let it leap back into life again. Especially if someone is watching, waiting to fan the flames ...

New school. Tick. New town.

Tick. New surname. Tick.

Social media profiles? Erased. There's nothing to trace Anna back to her old life. Nothing to link her to the 'incident'.

At least that's what she thinks ... until the whispers start up again. As time begins to run out on her secrets, Anna finds herself irresistibly drawn to the tale of Maggie, a local girl accused of witchcraft centuries earlier. A girl whose story has terrifying parallels to Anna's own...

The compelling Young Adult debut from Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and bestselling author of Girl Up.

'The Burning lights a fire in you - one that makes you want to fight for change and ignite sparks in others so the fire spreads and spreads.' Holly Bourne

'A bracing love letter to today's teenage girls', Sunday Times