An audio book
Lindi (her PoV, first-person), 50, is living with her aunt Bell, 71, in rural Ireland. We learn that Bell was her mother's identical twin, that Lindi was treated as a bastard, her father a gypsy. She recalls the day when she was 7 when her mother's body was brought back to the house.
She's 6ft, mentally unstable. She once slashed her throat. She's in and out of the clinic, works part-time in a bank. There's a case of family secrets in her aunt's room that she goes through - she had a brother, she discovers her father's name (her mother took her to see him once, on a beach).
Sections often end with a new fact that a later section gives the details of - she had a son for 8 weeks; she killed her grandmother, etc. At 18 she went to London with Miriam to train as a nurse. Miriam went home after 3 months (she's still a friend - she has twin grandchildren). Lindi got pregnant on the night she first kissed a friend. He turned out to be a priest. She was pressurised to give the child up for adoption. Back in the present day the local priest tells her that her son Kieran will be performing in a play nearby. He looks so much like her nasty grandfather that everybody guesses who he is. He's married with 3 little kids. The grandfather says that he'll make Kieran heir to his farm if he visits and becomes part of the family.
Within 3 weeks Kieran and his family have moved in. Kieran soon ejects the violent grandfather from the house. He moves in with Bell and Lindi. Lindi tracks down her father who says that her mother died on the way to a man who wasn't him - the man who made Bell pregnant. Lindi walks into the water but changes her mind. The grandfather dies. His will is unsigned so Bell is in control of everything. And Bell is her mother.
A cuckoo clock keeps sounding to remind us that people have invaded other's houses.
Other reviews
- goodreads
- Alexander Larman (combines deep psychological insight with unexpected touches of lightness and humour)
No comments:
Post a Comment