kevinbarton

The story flits between the narratives of Noelle, telling her story before her death, the two friends Emerson and Tara, Tara’s daughter Grace who is integral to the story’s unfolding and a final central character Anna. Anna is the lady to whom Noelle’s letter is written and somebody who has suffered a great deal in her life. As the story unfolded, I felt a consistent sense of dread of “the moment/secret” being described and portrayed coming up and when it did, I found it quite hard to read. I guess it’s a Mama thing? I don’t know. It chilled me right through though which I believe shows the mark of a good writer at least. None of the characters individually drew me in, in fact, I don’t believe any of them was particularly deep or inhabitable (I like to become my characters) but they worked well to facilitate the plot. I know, this is a very ambiguous review but it’s hard to talk about this novel without giving too much away and the good thing about it is almost every chapter finishes with another shocking twist or turn and it really does keep you engaged. A brilliant read and one which I would recommend to all...except perhaps brand new mothers!

2023-01-28 11:34