Synopsis
'Emily made a mistake, a mistake midwifes can't afford to make. Escaping to her dad's home in Devon to regroup and check in on him – his dementia has been worsening, and her guilt along with it – she is surprised when a beautiful stranger answers the door. Francoise is her dad's new carer, but Emily's father seems to have deteriorated under her care.
Emily doesn't trust Francoise – but she doesn't trust herself either. Each has a secret. And one of them will kill to keep it . . .'
Thank you so much to Penguin for the uncorrected proof to read and review!
The novel starts with Emily helping a couple give birth. Everything seems fine, she helps the mother through a successful birth, and the baby is given a full bill of health. Until it wasn’t fine. And Emily finds herself suspending pending trial for something she has done.
She heads home to her Father, in the hopes that he will reassure her, and give her the love she desperately needs during this time. But when she finds Francoise, his new French carer at the door, she realises there is a lot she doesn’t know about her Father.
The book starts out pretty strong, a mysterious suspense that keeps you guessing as to what Emily as done, and just what kind of person she might be. Then we meet Francoise, through Emily’s eyes, and she seems very suspicious. But then we move on to Francoise’s perspective, and you are then left wondering which of them is telling the truth.
I liked that we switched between the perspectives of Emily and Francoise, and I also like that we ventured into the mind of Harold also, during his time in the war. It really helped build the characters, and allowed you to have a better understanding of them, as both Emily and Francoise were highly suspicious of each other, which often clouded their judgement.
I found that Corry put in little titbits of information that lured you into thinking other characters could have also been involved with what was going on within the novel, which was quite clever, and certainly had me questioning everything I thought I knew.
I did find however, that once I got about halfway through the novel, it starts to drift away from the strong first half and turns into a novel with too many extra bits of information that were either unnecessary, or just something added in to confuse you which I found a little frustrating.
There are a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing constantly, and although I was expecting a different ending, it was a nice surprise to be proven wrong and it wrapped up nicely too.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, with just a little bit too much repetition and confusion for me to rate higher than a 3.5!
3.5/5 stars
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