Overview

Evie has lost her eldest son, Jesse, to inner London gang violence. Only the desire to be there for her younger boy, Finn, impels her to West Wales and the house her husband thinks might help heal some of their wounds. A haunting story of loss and forgiveness, trust and betrayal.

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9781909983663

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Evies eldest son Jesse is dead. At only sixteen he is gone, and his younger brother and mother are in the depths of grief. A year has passed since the terrible event and Evies husband, the high-flying Andrew Wolfe, has decided that a move to the country is the answer to his small familys seemingly unstoppable flow of grief. Breaking the ties and strands of connection to Jesses childhood home pushes Evies fragile state of mind to breaking point, but she has to leave; she hasnt the strength to stand up to her husbands determination. Her surviving son Finn is suffering too; he has lost not only his brother but the mother and father who are so immersed in grief and in his fathers case in his career that they cannot focus on Finn. His mother drifts in a cloud of despair and his father steams along in a semi-impatient drive to pull his dependents out of their anguish and back to some kind of normality. To this end he moves his broken family to the rural depths of west Wales, down a rutted lane to an ancient house slumbering in a bower of dripping, overhanging greenery. But what Andrew Wolfe doesnt realise is that his wife and son are haunted by the dead and that the place he has brought them to has ghosts of its own. Helen Lewis alternates between the viewpoints of Evie and ten-year-old Finn. Evies deepening distress and torment are balanced by Finns pragmatism and healthy self-absorption. He feels the pain and loss but he can lose himself in the joy of a new and exciting house to explore and of having a horse of his own a gift smacking somewhat of bribery from his father, who needs to persuade this sociable boy that living in rural isolation far away from his friends is really a good idea. But for Evie this move has nothing to ameliorate it. The enfolding lush greenery of a Welsh valley isolates her in a world of ever-greater uncertainty, where time seems to fold in on itself and the inhabitants of the past offer more comfort than those of the present. Helen Lewis writes with sensitivity and a deep understanding of the horrors and torments of grief and the struggle of the human mind to accept the unacceptable. For a mother to lose a child is the undoing of everything we take for granted in how things should be, and Evies already had a tough life. As Evie doubts whether Andrew is truly benign in his dealings with her, and as his disapproving parents descend on her, every protestation she makes becomes another mark against her and another proof of her failing grip on sanity. Others can behave with a vicious animosity, but unless Evie can rise above the provocations of her in-laws her position is ever more precarious. Lucy Walter It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council

Evies eldest son Jesse is dead. At only sixteen he is gone, and his younger brother and mother are in the depths of grief. A year has passed since the terrible event and Evies husband, the high-flying Andrew Wolfe, has decided that a move to the country is the answer to his small familys seemingly unstoppable flow of grief. Breaking the ties and strands of connection to Jesses childhood home pushes Evies fragile state of mind to breaking point, but she has to leave; she hasnt the strength to stand up to her husbands determination.Her surviving son Finn is suffering too; he has lost not only his brother but the mother and father who are so immersed in grief and in his fathers case in his career that they cannot focus on Finn. His mother drifts in a cloud of despair and his father steams along in a semi-impatient drive to pull his dependents out of their anguish and back to some kind of normality. To this end he moves his broken family to the rural depths of west Wales, down a rutted lane to an ancient house slumbering in a bower of dripping, overhanging greenery. But what Andrew Wolfe doesnt realise is that his wife and son are haunted by the dead and that the place he has brought them to has ghosts of its own.Helen Lewis alternates between the viewpoints of Evie and ten-year-old Finn. Evies deepening distress and torment are balanced by Finns pragmatism and healthy self-absorption. He feels the pain and loss but he can lose himself in the joy of a new and exciting house to explore and of having a horse of his own a gift smacking somewhat of bribery from his father, who needs to persuade this sociable boy that living in rural isolation far away from his friends is really a good idea.But for Evie this move has nothing to ameliorate it. The enfolding lush greenery of a Welsh valley isolates her in a world of ever-greater uncertainty, where time seems to fold in on itself and the inhabitants of the past offer more comfort than those of the present.Helen Lewis writes with sensitivity and a deep understanding of the horrors and torments of grief and the struggle of the human mind to accept the unacceptable. For a mother to lose a child is the undoing of everything we take for granted in how things should be, and Evies already had a tough life. As Evie doubts whether Andrew is truly benign in his dealings with her, and as his disapproving parents descend on her, every protestation she makes becomes another mark against her and another proof of her failing grip on sanity. Others can behave with a vicious animosity, but unless Evie can rise above the provocations of her in-laws her position is ever more precarious. Lucy WalterIt is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council

Author Information

Helen Lewis trained as a graphic designer at The Faculty of Art, Southampton and worked in studios in London before setting up her own consultancy. She has been writing for ten years and has had short stories published in anthologies and national magazines. She lives in Pembrokeshire.

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