Behind Closed Doors by Catherine Alliott

Synopsis
From the outside, anyone would think that Lucy Palmer has it all: loving children, a dashing husband and a gorgeous home.

But when her marriage to Michael comes to an abrupt and unexpected end, her life is turned upside down in a flash.

As the truth of her marriage threatens to surface, Lucy seizes the opportunity to swap her house in London – and the stories it hides – for a rural escape to her parents’ farmhouse in the Chilterns.

But Lucy gets more than she bargained for when she moves back to her childhood home, especially when it throws her into the path of an old flame.

Coming face-to-face with her mistakes, Lucy is forced to confront the secrets she’s been keeping from herself and those she loves.

Is she ready to let someone in? Or will she leave the door to her past firmly closed . . .

Review
It has been a few yeard since I last picked up a book by Catherine Alliott, but after reading Behind Closed Doors I have gone and rescued some of her books from my overstocked bookshelves. As the title implies this is a book about t]he secrets we keep and the facade we put on to the outside world. Lucy and her husband Michael seem to have the perfect life, Michael a theatre critic, Lucy a well known author and two very successful children, but nothing could be further from the truth; Lucy and her children have lived in constant fear for years. When she finds herself suddenly freed from this life she decides to go and live with her elderly parents, who are growing old very disgracefully, in the beautiful Chilterns. But, moving away can’t ease her mind, the guilt she feels and the fear that the deails of her marriage will be exposed.

What I loved most about this book, more than the wonderful characters, is the skillful way that Catherine Alliott is able to take a serious subject, deal with it emapatheatically and with understanding, but also balancing the plot line with wamth and humour. The subject of mental abuse has been very prolific over the past few years, shown to be as harmful as physical abuse and can now be prosecuted. However, through Lucy we see the stigma about this subject, the shame felt by those who are the victims of abuse. Lucy stays in her marriage to protect her children, even though they are now grown up and left home, in her daughters case to America to escape her father. Dreams of freedom have so far only been that, but once free Lucy has to discover who she really is, what she wants from life and to find her feet. Rather than seeing her as weak for staying in the marriage I thought her strong and brave, her mothering instincts to protect her children at all costs, and as the book progresses we see just how frightening amd shocking her life was. The palpable fear of Lucy and her children, and their isolation really comes through in this book, and its no surprise I wanted to Lucy to grab life and make up for those years she has been trapped.

As I mentioned previously the serious and important issue of an abusive relationship is balanced with the humorous story line involving Lucy’s parents. Lucy and her sister Helena are at their wits ends with their parents, whose social life is better than theirs,with boozy lunches with friends that go on all day. There are amny laugh out loud moments within this plot line, and I loved the idea of this couple in their eighties, and their friends having fun and acting disgracefully. There is a more serious side to this is well to balance it out but I think they had to be my favourite characters, with their positive outlook on life and living it to the full. Other memorable characters are Lucy’s children Ned, a vicar, Imogen, a strong willed and outspoken young woman not affraid to speak her mind, and Amanda, Lucy’s dispicable sister-in-law, all bringing their individuality to the plot.

I adored Behind Closed Doors, it really covered all bases in the ingrediants required for a real page turner. The plot has plenty of light and shade and took me through every emotion possible, I laughes out loud, was shocked, angry at particular characters and pride towards the strength of Lucy. Beautifully written, with memorable characters this is a fabulous read and one I highly recommend.

I would like to thank Sriya Varadharajan from Penguin Random House for the invite to take part in this blog tour in return for my honest review.