Initial insight into a family in crisis facing debt and eviction debased by a far-fetched second half.
Home Truths focuses on the very relevant themes surrounding the harrowing turn that mother of three, Angie Watt’s, life has taken since her eldest son, Liam, fell prey to a notorious local gangs influence and her husband’s attempt to put a stop to his son’s descent ended with him paying the price with his life. Two years on, having thrown Liam out of the family home and his involvement in his father’s murder shrouded in doubt, early forties working widow, Angie, is struggling to cope. Managing a transition house alongside her sister, Emma, she supports those who have fallen on hard times and ended up homeless. Set in what could pass for any small town away from the big city lights, Home Truths presents itself as a story of the lengths that a mother will go to in order to protect her children and I was expecting a story of one woman discovering her previously unknown inner strength.
Whilst Angie might be all optimism, kindness and encouragement to the men on whose behalf she works, two years after her husband’s murder, her own personal situation has taken an ominous turn as debt escalates and rent goes unpaid and she struggles on one wage. Supported by her thirteen-year-old, Grace, and seven-year-old, Zac, she scours charity shops, pawns their valuables and sells their old toys in order to make ends meet. When an eviction notice is served and the bailiffs arrive, Angie’s plight goes into free fall and the horrors of a young family in such dire straits is hammered home. From the details of Angie’s budget and her exact day to day expenses to the intimidation of her landlord’s menacing thug, the devastating repercussions are made evident. In contrast to the two previous novels by Susan Lewis which I have read and had a firmer mystery focus, the impetus for establishing wayward Liam’s whereabouts comes when the police suspect him of involvement with another crime and Angie’s heartbreak intensifies her quest for knowledge.
The social commentary for the most part is solid and well-researched, illustrating everything from the county line gangs to the introduction of Universal Credit through to online grooming and the behaviour of the sex trafficking gangs. As the novel unfolds my disappointment was that Angie’s dire situation and finances takes an unrealistic ‘pie in the sky’ turn and this served to reduce the import of the early hard-hitting groundwork. As the second half unfolds the author also opts for a decidedly simplistic view of the austerity era and the problems faced by a government with reduced tax revenues and a rising population by simplistically ascribing funding cuts to the government making struggling people’s lives worse. What is believable, however, is thirteen-year-old daughter Grace’s social media appeal for ideas on alleviating the financial difficulties facing her family and how she soon finds herself drawn into a dangerous world of online predators targeting vulnerable youngsters. Together with savvy best friend, Lois, her character’s ordeal is far more compelling and credible than her mothers!
More unsatisfactory still is the fact that Angie’s personal plight has a sea change when she crosses paths with the owner of a construction company who retains a lot of goodwill towards her husband from their past work together. From here on in the story reads like predictable women’s fiction with a knight in shining armour coming to Angie’s aid. As someone who was expecting to read a realistic and emotionally charged story of a woman triumphing in the face of adversity, I felt short-changed as Susan Lewis sidesteps the realistic solutions and battles of everyday folk and discredits Angie’s entire story. Ardent feminists will be disappointed by the introduction of a good-looking and charismatic male coming to the rescue in more ways than one.
Both Angie and her sister, Emma, are strong, determined women and keep their plight in perspective with humour but in common with the rest of the cast, their characterisation is very black or white, and yet another aspect which minimises how compelling the novel is. Not only do the rest of the supporting cast feel decidedly one-dimensional but so many of the scenes are the stuff of dreams, particularly numerous people superseding the necessary channels that a person in Angie’s position would face and pulling strings on her behalf. Opting to forget the ‘ordinary woman in the grip of debt’ premise, Lewis forgets about the less well connected folk who find themselves at the back of the queue and what begins as the story of how no one is immune to the “vagaries of fate” and financial hardship takes a decidedly rosy turn to whimper to a close. All in all, a lightweight read that I would be hard pushed to recommend.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Whilst Angie might be all optimism, kindness and encouragement to the men on whose behalf she works, two years after her husband’s murder, her own personal situation has taken an ominous turn as debt escalates and rent goes unpaid and she struggles on one wage. Supported by her thirteen-year-old, Grace, and seven-year-old, Zac, she scours charity shops, pawns their valuables and sells their old toys in order to make ends meet. When an eviction notice is served and the bailiffs arrive, Angie’s plight goes into free fall and the horrors of a young family in such dire straits is hammered home. From the details of Angie’s budget and her exact day to day expenses to the intimidation of her landlord’s menacing thug, the devastating repercussions are made evident. In contrast to the two previous novels by Susan Lewis which I have read and had a firmer mystery focus, the impetus for establishing wayward Liam’s whereabouts comes when the police suspect him of involvement with another crime and Angie’s heartbreak intensifies her quest for knowledge.
The social commentary for the most part is solid and well-researched, illustrating everything from the county line gangs to the introduction of Universal Credit through to online grooming and the behaviour of the sex trafficking gangs. As the novel unfolds my disappointment was that Angie’s dire situation and finances takes an unrealistic ‘pie in the sky’ turn and this served to reduce the import of the early hard-hitting groundwork. As the second half unfolds the author also opts for a decidedly simplistic view of the austerity era and the problems faced by a government with reduced tax revenues and a rising population by simplistically ascribing funding cuts to the government making struggling people’s lives worse. What is believable, however, is thirteen-year-old daughter Grace’s social media appeal for ideas on alleviating the financial difficulties facing her family and how she soon finds herself drawn into a dangerous world of online predators targeting vulnerable youngsters. Together with savvy best friend, Lois, her character’s ordeal is far more compelling and credible than her mothers!
More unsatisfactory still is the fact that Angie’s personal plight has a sea change when she crosses paths with the owner of a construction company who retains a lot of goodwill towards her husband from their past work together. From here on in the story reads like predictable women’s fiction with a knight in shining armour coming to Angie’s aid. As someone who was expecting to read a realistic and emotionally charged story of a woman triumphing in the face of adversity, I felt short-changed as Susan Lewis sidesteps the realistic solutions and battles of everyday folk and discredits Angie’s entire story. Ardent feminists will be disappointed by the introduction of a good-looking and charismatic male coming to the rescue in more ways than one.
Both Angie and her sister, Emma, are strong, determined women and keep their plight in perspective with humour but in common with the rest of the cast, their characterisation is very black or white, and yet another aspect which minimises how compelling the novel is. Not only do the rest of the supporting cast feel decidedly one-dimensional but so many of the scenes are the stuff of dreams, particularly numerous people superseding the necessary channels that a person in Angie’s position would face and pulling strings on her behalf. Opting to forget the ‘ordinary woman in the grip of debt’ premise, Lewis forgets about the less well connected folk who find themselves at the back of the queue and what begins as the story of how no one is immune to the “vagaries of fate” and financial hardship takes a decidedly rosy turn to whimper to a close. All in all, a lightweight read that I would be hard pushed to recommend.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.