The Girl in the Maze by Cathy Hayward

Synopsis
‘I would caution you against delving into the past. The past is often best left exactly where it is.’

Emma Bowen has never had a close relationship with her mother, barely speaking with her in the last years of her life. But after her mother’s death, Emma finds something that might just explain the distance between them.

Discovering letters between her mother and grandmother, it seems to Emma that her mother has always been difficult.

As she searches for answers about her own childhood, Emma is drawn into the mystery of her mother’s enigmatic life. The more she finds, the more lost she feels, but Emma is determined to uncover her mother’s past, and the secrets held within it, whatever the cost.

An enthralling story of three women, generations apart, linked by one terrible tragedy.

Review
The Girl in the Maze is the fabulous debut novel from Cathy Hayward. This book tells the story of three generations of women, Betty, her daughter Margaret and her daughter Emma with each woman having a very distinctive voice. In 2019 Emma learns of her mother, Margaret’s death. Emma has been estranged from her mother for five years after having a very difficult relationship all her life. Whilst clearing out her mother’s flat, Emma finds a birth certificate from when her mother was sixteen for a sister she never knew she had. Emma wants to try and find her sister even though her mother’s solicitor advices against it, believing the past is better left in the past. As she starts her investigations, she finds letters from her Grandma Betty to her mother Margaret that open up a family secret that Emma wishes she had never uncovered, and explain why her mother was the way she was.

The Girl in the Maze is very much a story of mothers and daughters, both biological and adopted, and how as mothers we always want more for our daughters so they don’t make the same mistakes we may have. Starting in 1937, Betty is finds her self at fifteen pregnant and left standing at the altar. As a single mother she is made a pariah socially, finding it hard to get a job as it such a stigma in society. She feels she hs landed on her feet when she meets Jack who is willing to adopt Margaret and give them a new life, one that is accepted socially. Margaret is alwyas being reminded how lucky she is that Jack became her father and gave her a good life and education, however nothing is perfect, and her own relationship with her daughter Emma was very difficult. Emma is the complete opposite of her mother, giving her full attention to her children, being there for them unlike her mother who she felt was never there for her. All three women have strong individual voices, and Cathy Hayward captures each period of time brilliantly, the social and cultural confines placed on women through the years.

The Girl in the Maze in the title refers to a painting that Margaret painted as a young woman, and has been part of Emma’s life since she can remember. Interstingly Emma, and others who see the painting, see something different in the girls expression; her despair, laughter, smiling, crying. The other fact that stood out for me that in several cases the voyeaur sees their emotions refelcted in the girl at the centre of the maze, including feelings of blame, anger and accusation, signs of a guilty conscience. There are some very difficult issues discussed in this book and I will admit that I found it difficult to read in parts, but Cathy Hayward treats these issues with empathy and understanding. The research done for his book shines through in the historical context, the way women have been treated during different periods and the effect on mental health from bad relationships. What I loved about this book is that it dealt with the difficult relationships between mothers and daughters, relatinships that were estranged which I found refreshing in a way, rather than the ideal of the close relationship that are more commonly portrayed.

The Girl in the Maze is definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time. Whilst parts maybe hard to read Cathy Hayward’s beautiful prose draws you into the story of these three women, and keeps you hooked until the last page. I think this is a powerful if haunting read that had me feeling so many different emotions that it was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. This a masterful debut from Cathy Hayward and I can’t wait to see wht she does next.

I would like to thank Peyton Stableford from Agora Books for my invite to this blog tour in return for my honest review.