When it comes to families, is anyone a reliable witness?
Cherry Magraw can never forget the date her mother and brother were killed – the night of her ninth birthday. When her father was jailed for their murders, she lost everyone she loved.
Twenty years later, Cherry is a freelance journalist investigating domestic abuse and the secret world of the family courts, when she gets a letter from her father – still in prison for the killings – which contains a startling request.
From that point on, her past becomes entangled with her work, dismantling everything Cherry thought she knew about her family tragedy and plunging her into a dangerous of game of cat and mouse. Will her history cloud her judgement about another desperate family? And how far will she go to save someone else’s children?
If you buy a copy direct from the publisher, there’s a free shipping offer with code XMASFREE. The first chapter is also available on the Bath Publishing website to give you a taste of the book.
My thoughts: based on her experience as a journalist covering family court, Louise Tickle has written a complex and thought provoking book.
Cherry is now a journalist with an interest in domestic violence cases and family court, but as a child she was present when her father killed her mother and younger brother after a night of terror. He also scarred her for life. He is in prison but Cherry has gaps in her memory of that night and he might be the only person who can help her fill them.
She has also been drawn into the fraught custody case of Kathie and Ed. She claims he’s a master manipulator, using threats, physical violence and coercive control to stop her from escaping him with their two young children. He says she’s a liar.
With an unsympathetic judge who doesn’t seem to really care, Kathie grows more and more frantic, and despite promising to stay neutral Cherry’s own experiences colour her reactions and after a frightening moment with Ed, she’s more concerned than ever. But there’s no evidence that he’s dangerous.
Domestic cases are always very complicated, a lot of what happens is in the home with no witnesses, except maybe the children, and it can be difficult to demonstrate what has been going on.
There are lots of shocking moments and heartstopping twists as the novel builds towards its ending – played out against the North Wales coastline where Cherry grew up in the care of her loving aunt and uncle.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 