STORY SUMMARY
Marianne is married to Sam and they have a teenage daughter named Honor.
Marianne was just 17 years old when she left her hometown of Nusstead, Suffolk, England. She left behind her parents, her boyfriend Jesse and a body that they helped bury. They live in London and have careers.
It is now 30 years later in 2018 and Sam is surprising Marianne with a 2nd home in the Park Royal Manor which is on the grounds of the old insane asylum known in Nusstead as Nazareth Hospital. He bought the new condo so Marianne could be closer to her mother and sister Colette. Colette is also raising a family and has had the brunt of the care for their mother. Marianne can now help out more often, now that they have the condo. She isn't thrilled though to be back in her hometown area where there are many secrets from her past. She feels like the past is closing in on her and it doesn't help that Jesse is still coming around for her. He has many children from his marriages yet still loves Marianne. He also has never forgiven Marianne for up and leaving him and he is now threatening to expose the truth of what they did one stormy night at Nazareth when they were teens.
Marianne, though, is determined to protect the life she has built around her husband, daughter and career. Sam and Honor must never learn what happened that night so long ago in 1988. This might mean turning to her worse enemy for help.....Helen Greenlaw, a much older woman.....
and yet....Marianne really doesn't know the whole story.....and she is not the only one with secrets to keep and who would kill to keep those secrets buried.
MY THOUGHTS
This is book is so well written. It's truly a psychological thriller but not a crass one. The main themes are about what is today known as hospitals for the mentally ill but which in the 1950s through the 1980s were known as insane asylums. (that term actually goes back to the 19th century). In England, these asylums were known as "Stone mothers". (something new I learned!). The book describes the very real horrific conditions and treatments that took place in English mental hospitals although the story is fiction. One character, whom I disliked at the beginning of the story, ends up being someone I actually admired by the end due to learning what she endured in this fictional place with real-life like treatments.
The characters are exquisitely well developed as are the various settings in this book. The characters are "deep" and I enjoyed each one as he/she was developed.
The book has 4 main parts: Park Royal Manor in 2018; Nazareth Hospital in 1988; Nazareth Mental Hospital in 1958; The Larches in 2018.
The way the story wrapped up was very well done. I don't want to give much of the plot away but I do want to say that there are some parallels between Marianne and Helen and again between Helen and Honor that are just so meaningful.
Some of the main themes in this story are: parental emotional neglect (Helen with her own mother and father); teenage pregnancy; the plight of the mentally ill and the lack of quality care; patriarchal "rules" of the Catholic or Anglican church (I'm actually not sure which); misguided counseling between a priest and a parent(s); blackmail; the mother-daughter relationship; husband-wife relationship; alcoholism and poverty.
Two quotes jumped out at me:
"Actually, I'm going to deactivate all my social for a bit," Honor replies. "I read that it can be as harmful for mental health as smoking skunk. It literally reroutes your nervous system, it makes you dependent on the next dopamine hit; it's like crack. Or sugar...." (pg 73, Part One Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly c.2019)
(Boy, the author's got that right!!)
"So the choice is mine. I can upset Mum by digging for a truth that might destroy both of us, or I can grow up and admit that we're stronger when the space between us is big enough to hold secrets. Secrets are how you survive." (pg 353, Part Four Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly c.2019)
I will definitely look for more of this author's novels at our town library.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature theme/content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
5 comments:
This sounds so good, Faith. Going to see if the local library has it. Thanks!
P.S. I ordered a used copy from Amazon last night. Can't wait to read it. I could have got it from the library, but seems like books always come available from the library just when I am in the middle of reading of something else. Only $5 on Amazon, so I decided to get my own copy. I have a friend who enjoys this kind of book, so I may be loaning it to her as well. Thanks again for the review and recommendation!
That's awesome Deb!! I had never read this author before so now I'll be looking into some of her other novels. Enjoy!!
Sounds good. I really enjoyed Broadchurch.
This sounds interesting. I saw that Broadchurch come thru my Netflix home page but I couldn't find the other one you had recommended before which is unusual because Canadian Netflix usually carries lots of BBC.
Post a Comment