Nobody talks about my mother. Absolutely nobody. I have no idea what she was like. I’d always thought they kept quiet about her because they were sad. But what if it was because they were guilty?
I watch them at the school gates, all the mothers with their daughters. I see the hugs and all those thoughtful little adjustments to scarves and ponytails. How their love seems to overflow, they have so much of it to give.
And then I walk home to my aunt’s cold house, where there are a hundred rules for me to follow and only a single photograph of my mother to look at.
She is never spoken about in this house. They tell me that it will be easier if I don’t think about her.
It is strange though, isn’t it? That I know nothing about my own mother?
But they don’t know about the diary I’ve found up in the loft. Maybe they even forgot it was there. It doesn’t matter anymore if they won’t tell me anything. Because within these pages is what I’ve waited fourteen years to find out. And maybe some things I wish I could forget.
All I wanted was to bring our family closer together, but could what I find tear us apart instead?
Review
You have found the love of your life and created the family you have always wanted with him.
One confession and your world is collapsing. It’s not what happened that blows you away, but the fact that nobody told you about it and kept it a secret for several years. Now you need space and time to think. Seems like a plan, right? Then, fate strikes hard …
Would you rather know the truth even if you know it’s going to hit you hard or would you rather be kept in the dark?
A beautiful story about a family being ripped apart, secrets being revealed, guilt and grief. Clearing the air is the way to go if you want to start (re)building certain relationships. 4 stars.
Thank you, Ali Mercer and Bookouture
About the author
Ali decided she wanted to be a writer early on and wrote her first novel when she was at primary school. She did an English degree and spent her early twenties working in various jobs in journalism, including as a reporter for the show business newspaper The Stage. She started writing fiction in earnest after getting married, moving out of London to the Oxfordshire market town of Abingdon and starting a family. She has two children, a daughter and a son who is autistic and was diagnosed when he was four years old.
Ali is fascinated by families, their myths and secrets, and the forces that hold them together, split them up and (sometimes) bring them back together again. She always travels with tissues and a book and has been known to cry over a good story but is also a big fan of the hopeful ending.
Author Links
Twitter (@AlisonLMercer)
Instagram (@alimercerwriter)
Facebook page (AliMercerwriter)
Book Links
Amazon: https://geni.us/B086T61VF1Social
Apple: https://apple.co/2wk3G9Z
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2xdGeMb
Googleplay: https://bit.ly/2UVLTjb
B for Bookreview 