Her Mother's Lies by Rona Halsall
Published by Bookouture
Publication Date 23rd October 2019
Psychological Thriller
332 pages
Book Description:
What if the person you trust most in the world, has been lying to you for your whole life?
Martha would do anything for her devoted mother, Fran. Now in her mid-twenties, Martha still lives with her in their remote, pretty cottage in the Cornish countryside. Fran paints illustrations, while Martha trains to be an animal nurse.
But then Martha sees a strange message on her mother’s phone – apparently from her estranged father.
He had been there for her first steps. He’d helped with her homework, and taken her for ice cream at weekends. And then, two days before her ninth birthday, he walked out. She never knew what went wrong, and she and Fran never heard from him again.
Desperate for answers, she tracks him down. But when they come face-to-face, she isn’t ready for the brutal truth.
Closing his eyes he says, ‘She hasn’t told you, has she? I’m not your father.’
Her mother has been telling lies.
And not just about who her real father is…
Martha would do anything for her devoted mother, Fran. Now in her mid-twenties, Martha still lives with her in their remote, pretty cottage in the Cornish countryside. Fran paints illustrations, while Martha trains to be an animal nurse.
But then Martha sees a strange message on her mother’s phone – apparently from her estranged father.
He had been there for her first steps. He’d helped with her homework, and taken her for ice cream at weekends. And then, two days before her ninth birthday, he walked out. She never knew what went wrong, and she and Fran never heard from him again.
Desperate for answers, she tracks him down. But when they come face-to-face, she isn’t ready for the brutal truth.
Closing his eyes he says, ‘She hasn’t told you, has she? I’m not your father.’
Her mother has been telling lies.
And not just about who her real father is…
My Review:
Martha and Fran are as close as mother and daughter can be. They moved to an isolated part of Cornwall following the collapse of Fran's marriage to Martha's dad years before. They live a very sheltered life but things tick along okay until the day that Martha loses her job with local vet Pete, a man she respects and holds very dear. Her whole life seems to fall apart from that point on with her mother's health failing and the chances of finding another job seeming slim. In desperation Martha decides to visit her father in Wales to ask him for help in their hour of need. She mentions her plan to visit to her friend Izzy who lives up north and nobody is more shocked than Martha when Izzy offers to accompany her on the trip. Whilst very grateful to Izzy, Martha decides to set off on her own to face her father - decision she is glad of when the visit doesn't turn out anywhere near any of the scenarios that Martha had considered.
This is the point where the book really changes pace and the questions start to pile up: why did Martha's dad react the way he did? What did he mean when he told Martha to ask Fran for the answers she is seeking? And why is Izzy so intent on helping her?
The author has fed the reader a few tiny crumbs of information early on in the book regarding Fran's background and Martha's birth. We know Fran is hiding something but the vital clues are missing for us to be able to build up the complete picture. I felt very mistrusting of Izzy - in some ways she's such a great help and support for Martha but in others she seems very controlling and a little bit spiteful in the way she speaks to her. Her hidden motive for helping had me turning the pages to find out more, and I stayed up much later than I had planned in my (and Martha's) quest for the truth.
The emotions both Fran and Martha are going through are described well by the author, with mum knowing far more than daughter and having information she really doesn't want to come to light. What is the secret she fears will take Martha away from her? It must be something big to break the tight bond they have.
The conclusion is explosive and there are curve balls from various directions, some which had been possibilities in my mind, others were big surprises to me but on thinking back once I had completed the book there were subtle hints in the relevant earlier chapters which I had completely misunderstood due to clever smoke screening.
The plotting in this book is good and the setting of the isolated location added to the storyline very well. The characters are well drawn, all of them had flaws and strengths which fitted the story perfectly. Rona's previous book The Honeymoon also had characters with a controlling behaviour. and I feel it is one of the strengths of her writing to be able to portray this behaviour in a realistic manner. Her ability to make the reader as convinced by the character's manipulation as the victim in the book is quite unnerving, but lets us see how easy it is to be taken in by a person like that.
Add Rona Halsall to your watch list as I feel she has many more tales in store to keep us entertained with.
Martha and Fran are as close as mother and daughter can be. They moved to an isolated part of Cornwall following the collapse of Fran's marriage to Martha's dad years before. They live a very sheltered life but things tick along okay until the day that Martha loses her job with local vet Pete, a man she respects and holds very dear. Her whole life seems to fall apart from that point on with her mother's health failing and the chances of finding another job seeming slim. In desperation Martha decides to visit her father in Wales to ask him for help in their hour of need. She mentions her plan to visit to her friend Izzy who lives up north and nobody is more shocked than Martha when Izzy offers to accompany her on the trip. Whilst very grateful to Izzy, Martha decides to set off on her own to face her father - decision she is glad of when the visit doesn't turn out anywhere near any of the scenarios that Martha had considered.
This is the point where the book really changes pace and the questions start to pile up: why did Martha's dad react the way he did? What did he mean when he told Martha to ask Fran for the answers she is seeking? And why is Izzy so intent on helping her?
The author has fed the reader a few tiny crumbs of information early on in the book regarding Fran's background and Martha's birth. We know Fran is hiding something but the vital clues are missing for us to be able to build up the complete picture. I felt very mistrusting of Izzy - in some ways she's such a great help and support for Martha but in others she seems very controlling and a little bit spiteful in the way she speaks to her. Her hidden motive for helping had me turning the pages to find out more, and I stayed up much later than I had planned in my (and Martha's) quest for the truth.
The emotions both Fran and Martha are going through are described well by the author, with mum knowing far more than daughter and having information she really doesn't want to come to light. What is the secret she fears will take Martha away from her? It must be something big to break the tight bond they have.
The conclusion is explosive and there are curve balls from various directions, some which had been possibilities in my mind, others were big surprises to me but on thinking back once I had completed the book there were subtle hints in the relevant earlier chapters which I had completely misunderstood due to clever smoke screening.
The plotting in this book is good and the setting of the isolated location added to the storyline very well. The characters are well drawn, all of them had flaws and strengths which fitted the story perfectly. Rona's previous book The Honeymoon also had characters with a controlling behaviour. and I feel it is one of the strengths of her writing to be able to portray this behaviour in a realistic manner. Her ability to make the reader as convinced by the character's manipulation as the victim in the book is quite unnerving, but lets us see how easy it is to be taken in by a person like that.
Add Rona Halsall to your watch list as I feel she has many more tales in store to keep us entertained with.
About the Author:
Rona Halsall was a management consultant for twenty years, before dedicating herself to creative writing full-time. Her writing skills have been honed through the production of three novels and by reading anything and everything, as well as undertaking an open university creative writing course. She is a keen book reviewer and belongs to a number of on-line book and writing groups.
She has three grown-up children of her own and two step-children and lives on the Isle of Man with her husband, two dogs and a couple of guinea pigs.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: RonaHalsallAuthor
Twitter: @RonaHalsallAuth
Instagram @ronahalsall.
I loved this book.
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