The four Bliss siblings have a loving but complicated bond, but when their mother, Dorothy, dies seemingly without a will, this relationship is put to the test. As the mourning siblings try to make sense of the situation, one of them is caught with a secret: before she died, Dorothy entrusted her favourite daughter with her will and a letter—and told her to destroy them both.
Of course it was Anna their mother turned to for this mission. Miriam, the eldest, is far too sensible; Sebastian, the baby, too sensitive; and Clare, the middle child, has always been too rebellious to rely on, and long ago cut herself out of her siblings’ lives.
But what Anna finds in the documents could change everything. Do the other siblings not deserve to know what it is about them that their mother was so desperate to hide? And if it is revealed, will the Bliss family ever be the same again?
I'd like to thank Sian at ED Public Relations for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and for sending me a copy of The Thing About Clare to review.
The Thing About Clare features the Bliss family, and is told from the viewpoints of all the family members, except dad Frank, over a period of time. Through these recollections from mother Dorothy, daughters Miriam, Clare and Anna, and son Sebastian we are able to piece together the family dynamics and the bonds that hold them or sibling rivalry that could potentially break them.
We first hear from Anna in 2015 at Dorothy's funeral with a mention of the letter that has been given to her that was to play a major part in later events, its contents are a mystery at this point but the implication is felt that if revealed there could be devastating consequences. The story then rewinds in time back to the birth of Miriam, the oldest child in 1961, as Dorothy adapts to motherhood, and then springs forward to various dates in the intervening years to hear about events from one of the families viewpoint.
All four siblings had totally different characteristics and were given their own voice to tell their own account of events, especially in the latter section in the book when all four siblings are affected by the events that played out following the death of their mother Dorothy.
Miriam has always been the most responsible and sensible of the sisters and a lot was expected of her, in a way she was wise beyond her years and had to grow up faster due to the extra responsibility that was placed on her. Clare was very much the black sheep of the family and she certainly lived up to the tag with her pushing the boundaries to the absolute limit at every opportune moment, and Anna was deemed the favoured child by her siblings who got preferential treatment. Surprise arrival Sebastian completes the family and due to his late arrival in life, it's almost as if he has two mothers with Miriam expected and taking on much of his care with little support from her sisters.
As a child of the 70s, and teenager in the 80s, I really enjoyed the nostalgic revisit to these years although I can't really remember whether we had a Silver Jubilee street party ourselves. I'm sure we must have done as we were living in an army camp in Germany at the time but I just can't remember any details of it. But I did find myself nodding along at the recollection of the thrill of spending a few pennies 'earned' on penny sweets from the local shop, I can remember what a hard decision it used to be what sweets to buy!
The Thing About Clare is an intriguing family drama which explores the complexity of relationships with a dash of mystery, although it wasn't that much of a surprise, thrown in for good measure.
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