Pen and ink front cover grabs your attention; pales to lesser significance on reading the introductory fast paced powerful prose painting vividly detailed sensory setting of a wintry landscape.
The narrative unfolds and draws you in. Painful unimaginable parental bereavement is evoked by the author referring to “the unbereaved” a group the protagonists cannot rejoin, the fortunate parents who cannot fully comprehend loss and the depths of despair driving the parents within this narrative apart.
A thirst to read more;
- what is the father digging for the oak remains for?
- is it connected to his profession?
- will the Beacons take advantage of this vulnerable bereaved Mother?
- if the parents’ marriage cannot survive can the father remain living in a home that appears to have been in his family for generations and can the mother live away from the only place that her beloved son has lived?
Any author that uses a Thomas Hardy quote on the opening page has my full rapt attention.
Having now read this book it left me with even more questions than I started out with. However, I’m new to this genre and I can see why 31st October was the chosen publication date. Ultimately, parental loss of a young child causes wild unexpected reactions. Ewan was dearly loved but in life his parents responded to him differently so it was no surprise their bereaved responses would be diverging also.
Although I’ve read this book bundled up in bed with flu - I’m sure the themes raised will get inside your head and get you wondering. The book leaves you wondering.
I’ve knocked the book down from 5 stars (first impression) to four stars after reading it - only because I felt it was not truly ended. However, that’s an author’s prerogative to leave you considering ... what next?!
The narrative unfolds and draws you in. Painful unimaginable parental bereavement is evoked by the author referring to “the unbereaved” a group the protagonists cannot rejoin, the fortunate parents who cannot fully comprehend loss and the depths of despair driving the parents within this narrative apart.
A thirst to read more;
- what is the father digging for the oak remains for?
- is it connected to his profession?
- will the Beacons take advantage of this vulnerable bereaved Mother?
- if the parents’ marriage cannot survive can the father remain living in a home that appears to have been in his family for generations and can the mother live away from the only place that her beloved son has lived?
Any author that uses a Thomas Hardy quote on the opening page has my full rapt attention.
Having now read this book it left me with even more questions than I started out with. However, I’m new to this genre and I can see why 31st October was the chosen publication date. Ultimately, parental loss of a young child causes wild unexpected reactions. Ewan was dearly loved but in life his parents responded to him differently so it was no surprise their bereaved responses would be diverging also.
Although I’ve read this book bundled up in bed with flu - I’m sure the themes raised will get inside your head and get you wondering. The book leaves you wondering.
I’ve knocked the book down from 5 stars (first impression) to four stars after reading it - only because I felt it was not truly ended. However, that’s an author’s prerogative to leave you considering ... what next?!