An A6 novella from Claire's PoV. She's about 30. She's been to psychiatrists. One of them told her to write. Section headings are toys/objects - from Claire's childhood (a kaleidoscope found after 20 years) or bought for Claire's child. She has a younger sister Julia who was better at school and didn't want children. There's sibling rivalry. Claire's husband Gary is a high flier - like Julie. Her parents moved to a canal house not long before her mother died. When Claire is 13 weeks pregnant her widower father died in a single-vehicle accident. Claire's baby arrived 4 weeks early.
Claire was unfaithful when Gary was only her boyfriend. Gary's a good father but he rather neglected Claire. Julia helped too. Claire suspected the Julia's coming round because she's having an affair with Gary. Julia blacked out in the nursery. The kaleidoscope's shattered. The baby's crying. She tried to give it paracetamol. Julia fell asleep. When she woke, the baby's dead.
There's a companion piece from Julie's PoV - "Always another twist".
Other reviews
- Barbara Lewis (The work’s strength is the writing is poetic and accomplished and the fragmented form is a plausible aesthetic parallel to a mind crazed with grief. We can well believe it’s all based on fact and the novella’s brevity might suit our time-poor age. Its weakness is it is too short to engage us in another’s experience. We only glimpse the depth of the trauma and we’re left with the feeling Claire’s story is most valuable to those who have themselves endured the most harrowing of losses. ... At the end, there is no catharsis as we’re left unsure whether Claire is cured or convicted.)
- Emma Lee
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