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The Mother's Secret by Clare Swatman
Publication Date 22nd February 2018
Pan MacMillan
352 pages
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The Mother's Secret is a powerful story about family, secrets and devastating lies
Love keeps us together
Sisters Kate and Georgie have always shared a close bond. While Kate enjoyed the freedoms of youth, Georgie remained at home. But now Georgie is grown up, it’s time she started exploring.
Love can tear us apart
Their mother Jan loves her daughters with all her heart. So what if she kept them out of sight when they were young? She just cared for them so much. She wanted to protect them.
What if your life was based on a lie?
Maybe there was another reason for Jan’s protective behaviour? If they ventured too far afield, it might destroy the facade of their childhood. This family’s about to discover that while lies can cause pain, the truth could destroy them all.
My thoughts:
Georgie and Kate have led a very sheltered life with their mum Jan. Georgie moreso than Kate, and when the two girls chat about the fact that Georgie really needs to expand her horizons and overcome her fear of flying the girls decide the first step is to apply for a passport for her. Which opens up a whole can of worms. Georgie has never seen her birth certificate - has never needed it for anything in her insular life - but mum Jan is suffering from the start of dementia and the subject feels far too delicate to bring up without unleashing an episode of rage from her. Therefore the girls engineer an opportunity for Georgie to search the house while Kate takes mum out for lunch, She finds no trace of any documents for herself, despite there being a boxful pertaining to Kate which makes Georgie very suspicious. She takes herself off to the local archive library the following day but once again draws a blank. She does however discover disturbing articles in the local newspaper of an upsetting event the day after she was born which, as shocking as they seem, do actually start to form the start of an explanation of why the girls' lives have been as closeted as they were.
Clare Swatman has written an emotionally charged story here which while acknowledging the wrong doing and the seriousness attached to the incident also reflects the state of mind that Jan was in when her life and those around her was changed forever. I felt the events were very carefully handled, with the emotions of both sides of the story reflected perfectly. It is difficult to go too in depth into a review of the plot without giving too much of the story away but the characters are believable as are the circumstances throughout.
I thought the outcome was perfect as it wasn't a complete happy ever after ending yet offered a glimmer of hope to the family.
A very well written tale which I really enjoyed.
About the Author:
Clare Swatman is a journalist for a number of weekly women's magazines. Clare was Features Editor for Bella and has written for Best, Woman's Own and Real People. She writes for her local magazine as well as the travel pages for Take a Break. Clare lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two boys.
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