About The Book
Eighteen-year-old Emma has loving parents and a promising future ahead of her.
So why, one morning, does she leave home without a trace?
Her parents, Cath and Jim, are devastated. They have no idea why Emma left, where she is – or even whether she is still alive.
A year later, Cath and Jim are still tormented by the unanswered questions Emma left behind, and clinging desperately to the hope of finding her.
Meanwhile, tantalisingly close to home, Emma is also struggling with her new existence – and with the trauma that shattered her life.
For all of them, reconciliation seems an impossible dream. Does the way forward lie in facing up to the secrets of the past – secrets that have been hidden for years?
Secrets that have the power to heal them, or to destroy their family forever …
My Review
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I chose to read this novel because it sounded completely different to everything else I read. I’m so glad I did and it served as a reminder that I need to widen my reading preferences.
There are multiple narrators who are all connected as family or friends. But there are issues between them, mainly because all of them find it difficult to talk about openly about how they feel. All of them were suffering because of this, either by keeping secrets or not talking about their past. There was really only one of them who was fully honest about his childhood, his frustration at what he saw as interference and his love for Lara. That character was Nick, at times my least favourite, but I had to show respect for his honesty.
Cath was another character who I had conflicting views on. At first, when she was trying too hard to get close to Lara and Nick it troubled me. I could fully understand why Nick struggled with it. But she could see that it wasn’t the right thing to do and the more I read the more I liked her.
Emma was another who I liked more as I read. The guilt over the deaths that had touched her. Her role in the home she was living in and the friendships made. She was the one who revealed a lot more than any of the others. And the one whose pain affected me more than the others.
But it was one of the minor characters I liked reading about most. Young, naive and innocent Jeannie. I adored everything about her and I liked to think that she was stronger than any of the others and would be the one to ease the years of pain.
This was a wonderful novel about a family. Probably a similar family to many with happy memories and devastating ones. And like many, one that needed to talk about feelings to each other.
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