Tuesday 13 February 2018

Books Read: The Mother's Secret by Clare Swatman

Love keeps us together

Sisters Kate and Georgie have always shared a close bond. While Kate enjoyed the freedoms of youth, Georgie remained at home. But now Georgie is grown up, it’s time she started exploring.

Love can tear us apart

Their mother Jan loves her daughters with all her heart. So what if she kept them out of sight when they were young? She just cared for them so much. She wanted to protect them.

What if your life was based on a lie?

Maybe there was another reason for Jan’s protective behaviour? If they ventured too far afield, it might destroy the facade of their childhood. This family’s about to discover that while lies can cause pain, the truth could destroy them all.

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I'd like to thank Rosie at Pan Macmillan for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and for my copy of The Mother's Secret via NetGalley to review.  I was due to originally post my review on Saturday but was floored by a migraine but fortunately there was a spare day so I'm hosting today instead, apologies again Clare and Rosie.

As the title of the book suggest this is a story about a deeply hidden secret that once uncovered threatens to tear the foundation of a loving family apart.  Sisters Kate and Georgie have always been close even though Kate has always been allowed a little more freedom than her younger sister but Georgie soon makes a discovery that throws her whole life upside down and everything she thought about her life has been a lie. 

From this moment on I was totally hooked on following Georgie's quest to find out everything she could about events that had happened, and how and why they came about.  It's hard to say much more without giving away a spoiler, although the secret is revealed quite early on, but the rest of the story follows the impact of how this shocking event in the past affects/affected the lives of everyone involved.  It doesn't help that the other central character involved, her mother Jan, has been diagnosed with a serious illness so she's not able to get the answers she needs from her so instead she has to take matters into her own hands to uncover the truth. 

Although the main storyline is set in the current day, 2016, from Georgie's viewpoint we are also taken back in time to 1975 to read Jan's story and the traumatic events that deeply affected her and led to everything else that unfolded.  In one way I totally could understand the way that Georgie was feeling and the need to find answers but at the same time it's sometimes better to not upset the apple cart as the truth may lead you to discovering something you may not be ready for.  As for Jan, no-one could really condone what she did but at the same time I could empathise with her as she was at a low, dark point in her life and her actions were totally out of character.

The Mother's Secret was a poignant, heart-wrenching read featuring secrets and lies that had my emotions all over the place, I really felt for both Georgie and Jan for totally different reasons.  An enjoyable read from Clare Swatman so looking forward to more excellent stories from her in the future. 

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