Chosen because
The “J” section seems to be populated mainly by chick lit, historical epics and fantasy; however this debut novel seems to be at the more literary end of the women’s drama spectrum. Although published in 2008 its events unfold in the 1950s and the blurb promises themes of transgression and redemption set in a time of stifled emotions.
The Review
19 year old Lewis is released from prison and returns to his middle class home where he is coolly received. We quickly flashback to his childhood to gain insight into his fall from grace …
From the day his father returns from the war 8 year old Lewis finds himself emotionally semi-detached in this new family set up, where he loses his monopoly on his mother’s love and gains none from his father. His detachment grows as events conspire against him, and his responses unleash disturbing events. The perversity of his actions is self-evident, yet he has to pursue them; is he seeking a reaction from his father or is it some sort of self punishment for imagined misdeeds?
As the book returns to the present, Lewis’s good intentions compete with his old deep-seated issues. His only sympathiser is a young girl with problems of her own who thinks she sees something beyond the tortured angst of the older boy. The driving force of the well written narrative then becomes: can they help each other and find a future, or will it all go horribly wrong?
Read another?
I could be tempted as it was easy to pick up and hard to put down.
