If I’d seen
this book on the shelf in Waterstones, the cover may well have attracted me to
find out more even if it had been in the woman’s fiction area and not something
I would usually pick up. I wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest, but I’m
delighted to say I was more than pleasantly surprised.
The central
theme of the story is secrets and lies. How one deception leads intrinsically
to another, and the author does a very competent job showing that the sins of
the parents do echo down into the lives of their offspring.
Klara
Mortimer has had a difficult childhood. Not difficult in the clichéd sense of
the word, but difficult as she was raised without the love and protection of a
mother. And the feeling that her mother’s disappearance has never been fully
explained, leads to a multitude of insecurities in adulthood.
When an
anonymous letter containing a key arrives, Klara is led into a journey back
into her mother’s life and discovers truths she would have preferred remain
secret. Her spiralling obsession into finding answers takes her to some dark
places, where she begins to believe her whole life has been a sham and she can
trust no one. She turns against her husband, Mark - and her father, Henry who
she feels has betrayed her in his desire to protect her.
It’s clear
that her mother, a model who renamed herself simply ‘Sadie’ lived a
rollercoaster life in 1950s London. But the hazy memories Klara has of Sadie
before she disappeared, and the stories her father has related over the years,
do not seem to tie up with the discoveries she makes about her mother.
The reader
is compelled to turn the page, sharing Klara’s need for the truth, and the
conclusion of the story was unexpected, emotive and satisfying.
Jess Ruston
has a real gift of creating believable, sympathetic characters, that even if we
don’t actually ‘like’ them, we feel a connection with their lives and a need to
hear their story. Her writing is well-crafted, well-paced, and the attention to
detail and ability to examine the dark side of people and situations, gives
depth both to the story and the characters. She is also able to deliver a
complex and gripping storyline which twists and turns enough to hook even the
most difficult reader.
This is the
first book I’ve read by this author, but I look forward to reading more of her
complex family thrillers.
You can buy the novel here ...
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