Synopsis:
Addie had a difficult relationship with her Mother feeling that she never quite measured up to expectations and felt that her sister, in particular, was a favourite child. A year after her Mother’s death a surprise visitor starts a trail of discovery for Addie. In parallel we read about Liz (Addie’s Mother) who suffered after the death of her own mother when she was a teenager and how it affected the rest of her life.
Review
The opening chapter of the book made chills run down my spine the prose was so beautiful… “Loves found and lost, the pain of unexpected death and the deliciousness of forbidden trysts.” The reader is prepared for a wonderful feast of words. Unfortunately this descriptive style does not continue through the book, but it is replaced by two interconnecting stories which feed from each other and pull the reader along through the book as you discover more facts around the central mystery and the characters involved.
Themes of relationships with Mothers and with Fathers and siblings dominate but there is also social history here which is fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I would certainly read more by the same author, the book delivers an interesting narrative, a good writing style and great characterisation.