"Betrayal" by Lesley Pearse

An audio book.

London 1998. Eve is married to Don. He hits her repeatedly. When she's 30 and has 2 kids (Tabitha and Olly), she leaves him. The same day she and the kids are taken to a women's refuge in Devon, run by Marianne. She gains respect there from the others. She and the kids return to their house, Don evicted. Drunk, he sometimes sleeps in the shed. She sets it alight to scare him, making it look like his fault. He dies.

Months later she meets his parents for the first time. They seem nice. He'd severed contact with them.

There's a big life insurance pay out. She moves to Devon, where the refuge was. She's done curtain-making before. Now she expands into Interior Design (sounds unlikely). She meets George the estate agent and Tom the builder who both make her swoon with desire. Her bag is stolen, maybe by Button, a female investigative journalist who's been hounding her.

Button later talks to her, saying that she too has stayed at the refuge. She says that she knows Eve murdered her husband. She wants money to buy a house. Eve gives her £1k.

When Eve and Tom first sleep together, Eve hadn't thought about birth control issues(!). Their affair last 2 years. She never lets him stay the night because she doesn't want her kids to think that women need a man. He ultimatums her and leaves. Her friends and kids are on his side. After 2 months, George reappears - older than Tom, richer and more upper class. Less exciting in bed. Happier to fit into Eve's plans. Her company (somehow!) become successful. She takes on staff.

Eve catches George in bed with her 15 y.o. daughter and phones the police. He's arrested, and Tabby is taken away. Tabby's pregnant. Olly (14) acts as go-between between Tabby and her mother. He also tries to contact Tom. Tabby tells Eve to confess because the guilt is eating her (Eve) up. Really? It doesn't look like it. Before Eve decides what to do, Tabby has told Tom about it. So Eve confesses to the police.

George attacks Eve with a knife. Tom saves her. George kills himself. Tabby miscarriages. Eve gets off lightly in te court case. Don's parents don't blame her. In the epilogue Tom and Eve are together. Dawn?

No.

Other reviews

• goodreads
• lindasbookbag (What I enjoyed most, however, was Eve’s development over the plot. She couldn’t have been better named as she represents a universality of experience that women have had since the first woman herself. She does not begin in adversity and simply end up in success, but Lesley Pearse puts her through all manner of trials and achievements that make Eve feel vivid and real.)