An insightful novel which examines the often extraordinary lengths we go to in order to protect our loved ones.
3.5 stars
My Mother’s Secret is the third psychological thriller from Sanjida Kay and behind the uninspiring title awaits an acutely well observed and insightful novel which steers clear of melodrama and impresses with a very well-realised cast. The result, in the main, is an oddly unsettling family drama with the power to destroy two families whose lives collide in a story that considers the often extraordinary lengths we go to in order to protect and keep safe the people we love.
Whilst admittedly a slow starter with the lives of three narrators languidly taking shape, My Mother’s Secret soon captivated me with its unflinchingly honest handling of how one random event can set our lives on an unforeseen trajectory and the often devastating collateral damage it can unleashes on the unsuspecting and innocent parties. As the lives of each of the three narrators takes form each incremental layer of detail adds to the unfolding picture of an impossible dilemma with a very destructive power. In a story set against the backdrop of the breathtaking Lake District and a Bristol steeped in National Trust heritage, that the markedly different landscapes play a part in the lives of all three narrators helps ensure each of the voices remains admirably distinct.
Bristolian part-time baker, mother to fourteen-year-old Stella and eleven-year-old Ava, Emma Taylor is married to a man twenty years her senior in the accommodating, endlessly patient and sympathetic, Jack. Caught in a daily battle to keep her anxiety at bay and marshalling a four-way family timetable to ensure every hour is accounted for her frayed nerves cast a shadow over her family life. For sarcastic teen Stella, struggling for independence and living in far-flung Long Ashton she is increasingly growing frustrated by her father’s excuses of the loss of her mother’s family when she was just seventeen for her jumpy disposition and overprotectiveness. As a chance sighting of an old face takes Emma on an unforeseen walk down memory lane and Jack plans a surprise fifteen year wedding anniversary party, Stella starts to suspect that her newly glowing mother is withholding a secret.. and she is intent on finding out and as such initiates an assiduous search for potentially damning evidence. For Lizzie Bradshaw, a young mum to six month old Dylan, married to National Trust ranger, Paul and living a stone’s throw from the Cumbrian Way in the Lake District, the economic realities of family life force her to accept a part-time job in Belle Isle, a rough neighbourhood in Leeds. Fiercely intelligent and highly motivated, tomboy Lizzie has a provisional place to study for a Masters in Environmental Science only for a chance sighting of a heinous crime sends her life into free fall. But just what connects Emma, Stella and Lizzie?
Admittedly the past/ present tense dichotomy of the narrative means it will not take any savvy reader long to guess the secret which is thinly veiled, although in truth it wouldn’t have marred my enjoyment of the reading experience if Kay had made the differing timelines more readily apparent. Both Emma and Lizzie’s fateful meetings go on to shape their destinies - magical for one and catastrophic for the other, however elaborating further on the themes addressed would spoil the surprises in store for other readers. As they both discover the practicalities of a life built on subterfuge and the associated realities of existing in a state of perpetual fear, despite their polar opposite personalities they are confronted by the exact same realisation that the choice was out of their hands.
My Mother’s Secret illustrates just what can happens when something as simple as being in the wrong place as the wrong time and an event out of our control wreaks havoc on our lives and sends it spinning in the most unexpected of direction and presents a predicament which is the very definition of the paradoxical catch-22 situation. It doesn’t make it anymore bearable or just for those involved and credit goes to Sanjida Kay for her characters often visceral emotions. Of the three narrators it was Lizzie who I felt most removed from and struggled to connect with and, in hindsight, this may be reflective of her past tense narrative and reduced part in the unfolding action. She certainly felt less distinct in contrast to stroppy and very sarcastic Stella who shines through with her impulsive outbursts and subsequently considered actions as befitting her clear intelligence. From her love of literature to her pithy soundbites on everything from tentative first love (“a cross between nervous palpitations and a tummy bug”), she brings an energy and a lighter side to the story.
Interestingly, Sanjida Kay holds fire on the real bombshell revelation until the final moments of the novel and for many readers this will seem like a definite abuse of power by one character and bring a rather unsavoury and very abrupt ending to proceedings. I was remarkably disappointed by the outcome which in my opinion did a disservice to the utterly absorbing story that preceded it with its neat and oversimplified denouement. Not only do I think that the conclusion depended on some out of character behaviour on the part of the majority of the characters but the idea that it was reached with such magnanimity and aplomb is laughable. Whilst I can understand Sanjida Kay opting to concentrate her novel on the dynamics and emotional upheaval of the unfolding events, this far-fetched and facile conclusion is baffling. If Kay achieved anything throughout a sympathetically recounted story it is that life is never simple but full of myriad complications which have the power to change the course of every life, only for a conclusion to be the very epitome of happy families platitudes. This ending in itself is enough to reduce a four star review to a three and a half and it is this which forced me to reconsider the true identity of the powerful, manipulative and cunning man so chillingly controlling the destinies of all three of the narrators.. An interesting and captivating story which, despite the flaws proves emotionally involving and refreshingly original.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
My Mother’s Secret is the third psychological thriller from Sanjida Kay and behind the uninspiring title awaits an acutely well observed and insightful novel which steers clear of melodrama and impresses with a very well-realised cast. The result, in the main, is an oddly unsettling family drama with the power to destroy two families whose lives collide in a story that considers the often extraordinary lengths we go to in order to protect and keep safe the people we love.
Whilst admittedly a slow starter with the lives of three narrators languidly taking shape, My Mother’s Secret soon captivated me with its unflinchingly honest handling of how one random event can set our lives on an unforeseen trajectory and the often devastating collateral damage it can unleashes on the unsuspecting and innocent parties. As the lives of each of the three narrators takes form each incremental layer of detail adds to the unfolding picture of an impossible dilemma with a very destructive power. In a story set against the backdrop of the breathtaking Lake District and a Bristol steeped in National Trust heritage, that the markedly different landscapes play a part in the lives of all three narrators helps ensure each of the voices remains admirably distinct.
Bristolian part-time baker, mother to fourteen-year-old Stella and eleven-year-old Ava, Emma Taylor is married to a man twenty years her senior in the accommodating, endlessly patient and sympathetic, Jack. Caught in a daily battle to keep her anxiety at bay and marshalling a four-way family timetable to ensure every hour is accounted for her frayed nerves cast a shadow over her family life. For sarcastic teen Stella, struggling for independence and living in far-flung Long Ashton she is increasingly growing frustrated by her father’s excuses of the loss of her mother’s family when she was just seventeen for her jumpy disposition and overprotectiveness. As a chance sighting of an old face takes Emma on an unforeseen walk down memory lane and Jack plans a surprise fifteen year wedding anniversary party, Stella starts to suspect that her newly glowing mother is withholding a secret.. and she is intent on finding out and as such initiates an assiduous search for potentially damning evidence. For Lizzie Bradshaw, a young mum to six month old Dylan, married to National Trust ranger, Paul and living a stone’s throw from the Cumbrian Way in the Lake District, the economic realities of family life force her to accept a part-time job in Belle Isle, a rough neighbourhood in Leeds. Fiercely intelligent and highly motivated, tomboy Lizzie has a provisional place to study for a Masters in Environmental Science only for a chance sighting of a heinous crime sends her life into free fall. But just what connects Emma, Stella and Lizzie?
Admittedly the past/ present tense dichotomy of the narrative means it will not take any savvy reader long to guess the secret which is thinly veiled, although in truth it wouldn’t have marred my enjoyment of the reading experience if Kay had made the differing timelines more readily apparent. Both Emma and Lizzie’s fateful meetings go on to shape their destinies - magical for one and catastrophic for the other, however elaborating further on the themes addressed would spoil the surprises in store for other readers. As they both discover the practicalities of a life built on subterfuge and the associated realities of existing in a state of perpetual fear, despite their polar opposite personalities they are confronted by the exact same realisation that the choice was out of their hands.
My Mother’s Secret illustrates just what can happens when something as simple as being in the wrong place as the wrong time and an event out of our control wreaks havoc on our lives and sends it spinning in the most unexpected of direction and presents a predicament which is the very definition of the paradoxical catch-22 situation. It doesn’t make it anymore bearable or just for those involved and credit goes to Sanjida Kay for her characters often visceral emotions. Of the three narrators it was Lizzie who I felt most removed from and struggled to connect with and, in hindsight, this may be reflective of her past tense narrative and reduced part in the unfolding action. She certainly felt less distinct in contrast to stroppy and very sarcastic Stella who shines through with her impulsive outbursts and subsequently considered actions as befitting her clear intelligence. From her love of literature to her pithy soundbites on everything from tentative first love (“a cross between nervous palpitations and a tummy bug”), she brings an energy and a lighter side to the story.
Interestingly, Sanjida Kay holds fire on the real bombshell revelation until the final moments of the novel and for many readers this will seem like a definite abuse of power by one character and bring a rather unsavoury and very abrupt ending to proceedings. I was remarkably disappointed by the outcome which in my opinion did a disservice to the utterly absorbing story that preceded it with its neat and oversimplified denouement. Not only do I think that the conclusion depended on some out of character behaviour on the part of the majority of the characters but the idea that it was reached with such magnanimity and aplomb is laughable. Whilst I can understand Sanjida Kay opting to concentrate her novel on the dynamics and emotional upheaval of the unfolding events, this far-fetched and facile conclusion is baffling. If Kay achieved anything throughout a sympathetically recounted story it is that life is never simple but full of myriad complications which have the power to change the course of every life, only for a conclusion to be the very epitome of happy families platitudes. This ending in itself is enough to reduce a four star review to a three and a half and it is this which forced me to reconsider the true identity of the powerful, manipulative and cunning man so chillingly controlling the destinies of all three of the narrators.. An interesting and captivating story which, despite the flaws proves emotionally involving and refreshingly original.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.