From the outset I found it incredibly unrealistic that a father would lie to three of his children about their mother being dead. For what purpose? I guess it could, and maybe does happen but Saffron’s bratty and immature reaction to finding out the truth wasn’t very credible to me coming from a supposed 17-year-old. The behaviour and motivation of various characters was also suspect to me e.g. Tom being quite frankly rude and disengaged when Saffron tells him about her mother, Saffron’s brothers were also completely disinterested when they find out their mother is alive and their unconcerned reaction to leaving Saffron with a potential predator was just weird.
The ‘mystery’ is dragged out through a series of interminable answerphone messages from her dad and Saffron ignores pretty much all opportunities to find out more about what happened to her mother and where she might be. Is this really how people behave? I just wasn’t buying it. The characters were almost all unlikeable and Saffron in particular acted like a spoilt diva for most of the novel.
The ‘mystery’ is dragged out through a series of interminable answerphone messages from her dad and Saffron ignores pretty much all opportunities to find out more about what happened to her mother and where she might be. Is this really how people behave? I just wasn’t buying it. The characters were almost all unlikeable and Saffron in particular acted like a spoilt diva for most of the novel.