‘How could anything matter as much as losing
your sister?’
This moving and emotional debut novel looks at
how several lives are devastated by the sudden and unexpected death of a loved
one. Anna Thorne died after falling from the roof of her school in a tragic
accident. At the time that the main narrative starts, a year after the event, a
memorial to Anna is to be placed at her school and Anna’s parents are expecting
a visit from the head teacher Dr Howe to finalise the arrangements.
How have the lives of Anna’s sister Lizzie and
her parents Kate and Jon been affected by her death and the aftermath? What emotions
are they experiencing? And what is the truth about Anna’s death? These
questions are deftly explored by debut author Amanda Jennings in detail here.
The family is still hugely affected by Anna’s
death, by the gaping hole she has left in all their lives.
Anna’s mother Kate feels her loss so deeply; it
has torn every shred of happiness from her world:
‘Kate’s tear-blurry eyes searched for the
honeyed colours, but all that was left were shades of grey. Losing a child will
do that, you see. Losing a child turns everything grey, settles over life like
a dirty shroud, sucking the joy out as it smothers every last thing.’
Kate longs to find solace in painting Anna’s
portrait, trying to recall her daughter as she was, to capture her smile once
more. Meanwhile she is not fully present for the daughter she still has, which
is difficult for both Kate and Lizzie
Jon, Anna’s father, has so much to deal with,
not just his feelings of loss, but his elderly parents needing his time and
support, too; his father is suffering from dementia.
Lizzie loved her sister very much, yet is
trying to move forwards with her life, and experiencing love, but she can’t
stop thinking of Anna either; ‘Lizzie didn’t think there’d been a single
hour in the whole of the last year when she hadn’t thought about Anna.’ She often retreats to her sister’s
bedroom when she wants a peaceful moment to herself.
Something shocking is discovered, a revelation
that means the events on the night of Anna’s death may not be quite as they
seemed. What are the secrets that are now being uncovered? There is anger,
astonishment and disbelief for Kate and Jon at what they now know. Lizzie is
falling further in love with Haydn, a relationship that brings with it its own
complications as is revealed as you read on further.
This is a perceptive, emotional novel that
really gets to grips with the affects of grief on Lizzie, Kate and Jon. It is
not particularly fast-paced at times, but concentrates on portraying the
heartbreaking feelings and pain that each member of this family is
experiencing, and how their responses to their personal pain is impacting on
their everyday life now. How do they find the sense in such a terrible loss,
and the strength to go on? Can they come together as a close family unit ever again now that Anna is gone? The story has depth, with other threads of
intrigue running alongside the main events, which flesh out the principal
characters well as we see their responses to what happens and gain insight through their behaviour.
As well as this intimate portrayal of the
effects of grief, the story encompasses elements of mystery in the unraveling
of unknown facts about Anna’s life and death, secrets and sides to her that were hidden from her family, adding tension. I felt the novel’s strength lay primarily in the heart-rending,
believable depiction of three people consumed by horrendous grief and struggling to see
the way forward, and I needed to read on and see what life had in store for
them.
Reviewed by Lindsay Healy
Published by Canvas, an imprint of Constable & Robinson
Thank you to the publisher for sending a copy of this novel to read and review.
You can follow the author on twitter @MandaJJennings and visit her website here
Sounds good Lynz, lovely review
ReplyDeleteLainy http://www.alwaysreading.net
Thanks for commenting Lainy.
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