The Argument by Victoria Jenkins
Published by Bookouture
Publication Date: 10th December 2019
Psychological Thriller
235 pages
Book description:
It happens to every mother. One day, the daughter whose whole world you once were, becomes someone you barely know. And you don’t know the secrets she’s hiding…
One hot summer night, 15-year-old Olivia comes home late from a party she was strictly forbidden from going to, and she and her mother, Hannah, start arguing. Soon Olivia speaks the words that every parent has heard from their teenage child:
‘I hate you. You’ve ruined my life. And I’m never speaking to you again.’
Olivia has never been an easy child, a sharp contrast to her easy-going, happy-go-lucky little sister. But Hannah thinks Olivia’s outburst is the end of a normal family argument. In fact, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare…
After one day of silence, Hannah thinks Olivia is taking a teenage sulk too far. After two days, she starts to feel anxious that something more serious could be going on. After a week, when her daughter still hasn’t spoken, Hannah knows that Olivia is hiding a bigger darkness – something that could threaten to tear their precious family apart…
One hot summer night, 15-year-old Olivia comes home late from a party she was strictly forbidden from going to, and she and her mother, Hannah, start arguing. Soon Olivia speaks the words that every parent has heard from their teenage child:
‘I hate you. You’ve ruined my life. And I’m never speaking to you again.’
Olivia has never been an easy child, a sharp contrast to her easy-going, happy-go-lucky little sister. But Hannah thinks Olivia’s outburst is the end of a normal family argument. In fact, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare…
After one day of silence, Hannah thinks Olivia is taking a teenage sulk too far. After two days, she starts to feel anxious that something more serious could be going on. After a week, when her daughter still hasn’t spoken, Hannah knows that Olivia is hiding a bigger darkness – something that could threaten to tear their precious family apart…
My Review:
Reading the description of this book I was expecting a novel filled with teenage angst and parents attempting to be the epitome of the self-help parenting books. That is not what I got at all.
Mum Hannah seems to be sensible if maybe a little over anxious as she is tackling being the parent of a teenage girl for the first time. Like many mums she would love her children to stay as polite, obedient miniature adults for as long as possible so when Olivia starts testing the boundaries, as all teens do, she's a bit out of her depth especially as husband Michael isn't around as much as she'd like to support her in her decisions regarding discipline. One night Olivia sneaks out to a party which she knows she's been forbidden to go to then returns home bold as brass prompting an argument with her mum which results in her telling Hannah that she's never going to speak to her again. All pretty much par for the course in the majority of households in England so far. But then the story starts to take an unexpected turn.
Without giving the plot away, suffice to say that Hannah and Michael may not be the model parents they first appear to be. Allegations are made, and questions start coming from the school as Olivia's behaviour starts to nosedive outside the home environment too. The one person she thought she could trust to discuss things with and seek help from has disappointed her and she doesn't know who else she can turn to.
Then amidst the silent protest she is waging with her mother, she realises her younger sister Rosie is far more savvy than she had ever imagined, and that maybe she can be the one to help her.
By the end of the book I really didn't like any of the adults in the story but wasn't quite sure how much of any of the characters' versions of events was the actual truth.
An interesting look at family life behind closed doors, the writing took a few turns which I really didn't see coming and it's a book which certainly makes you think about what might be happening around you.
How well do any of us really know our outwardly-respectable neighbours?
Reading the description of this book I was expecting a novel filled with teenage angst and parents attempting to be the epitome of the self-help parenting books. That is not what I got at all.
Mum Hannah seems to be sensible if maybe a little over anxious as she is tackling being the parent of a teenage girl for the first time. Like many mums she would love her children to stay as polite, obedient miniature adults for as long as possible so when Olivia starts testing the boundaries, as all teens do, she's a bit out of her depth especially as husband Michael isn't around as much as she'd like to support her in her decisions regarding discipline. One night Olivia sneaks out to a party which she knows she's been forbidden to go to then returns home bold as brass prompting an argument with her mum which results in her telling Hannah that she's never going to speak to her again. All pretty much par for the course in the majority of households in England so far. But then the story starts to take an unexpected turn.
Without giving the plot away, suffice to say that Hannah and Michael may not be the model parents they first appear to be. Allegations are made, and questions start coming from the school as Olivia's behaviour starts to nosedive outside the home environment too. The one person she thought she could trust to discuss things with and seek help from has disappointed her and she doesn't know who else she can turn to.
Then amidst the silent protest she is waging with her mother, she realises her younger sister Rosie is far more savvy than she had ever imagined, and that maybe she can be the one to help her.
By the end of the book I really didn't like any of the adults in the story but wasn't quite sure how much of any of the characters' versions of events was the actual truth.
An interesting look at family life behind closed doors, the writing took a few turns which I really didn't see coming and it's a book which certainly makes you think about what might be happening around you.
How well do any of us really know our outwardly-respectable neighbours?
My thanks to Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication via Netgalley as part of the blog tour.
About the Author:
Victoria Jenkins is an English tutor and former secondary school teacher from South Wales who has been writing for years and day-dreaming about becoming a ‘proper’ writer for the past decade. She have an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea, where she wrote a lot of poetry while planning a lot of plots she hoped she would once day write. Victoria lives in South Wales with her husband.
Follow her on Twitter: @vicwritescrime
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