THEN SHE WAS GONE by LISA JEWELL

THEN SHE WAS GONE

BY LISA JEWELL

THE BLURB:-

She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a handsome and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet.

But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter.

Because his daughter is the image of Ellie.

Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Ellie come rushing back.

THE REALITY:-

Well, this must have had something going for it, as I flattened it in two days. It was not the best Lisa Jewell book I've read, and not the worst either. It was an interesting page turner- but somehow it failed to touch me.

It didn't take me long to work out that (spoiler alert!) Poppy was actually Ellie's child, although I initially thought Floyd's part was going to be way more sinister, and that he had actually fathered a child with a fifteen-year-old girl. The tale of what happened to Ellie was really sad, and I wholeheartedly sympathised with her (more spoiler alerts!) locked up in that wretched basement, then being separated from her baby and left to die.

But the character I loved the most was nasty Noelle! She was brilliantly depicted- so much that I could actually smell her coming of the page. Her lack of maternal feeling (especially towards Sara-Jade, who she describes as having “horror-movie eyes”) made me laugh with the pleasure of schadenfreude! It is interesting that she had a totally different opinion to Floyd with regard to Poppy, and I like the fact that the way a child can be different things to different people is explored throughout this book. I did, at first, find Poppy a little too precocious to be real (really, would a nine-year-old speak the way she did?) I got the impression that the author was putting the words of an adult into her mouth way too much.

A cleverly worked thriller with a stream of sadness running through it and a mix of interesting characters. It's a good study of family life and the way various members relate to one another, with a bittersweet and poignant ending.

But maybe because I loved evil Noelle so much (she did have her share of misery, too) I found it hard to adore any of the other characters (except perhaps Ellie).

THE DIANA CHRONICLES by TINA BROWN

THE DIANA CHRONICLES

BY TINA BROWN

THE BLURB:-

Ten years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. Was she 'the People's Princess,' who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she a manipulative, media-savvy neurotic who nearly brought down the monarchy?

Tina Brown knew Diana personally, knew her worlds, understands its players and has far-reaching insight into the royals. In The Diana Chronicles, you will meet a formidable female cast and get to know the society they inhabit... as you never have before.

THE REALITY:-

I think the problem I had with this book was that it was already thirteen years old when I chanced upon it in a charity shop, having coveted it for a while. Therefore, all the allegations and backstories were old hat, having already been put out there, digested and confabulated upon. Nothing in this book came as a surprise and I learnt very little new about Diana and her life. In fact, the most interesting pieces were actually the information pertaining to her childhood years, where I got to find out a bit about her mother, her father and their lives/ backgrounds and their relationship.

Was Diana's paranoia with regard to Camilla justified? Hell, yeah! Look who's married to Charles now! I do find it awfully sad that neither Charles nor Diana put as much effort into their marriage as they could have done- he was too quick to run back into the fawning arms of his mistress, where he should have been at least trying to sort things out with Diana; and maybe expanding upon their family, producing the daughter they both (in all likelihood) wanted as well as possibly more kids! Sadly, it looks like he simply didn't want her enough to continue a sexual relationship with her- a blow for any woman, and I can understand why she took her affections elsewhere. I realise that Diana was someone who needed professional help, but people in their position, with their money and influence are able to get it.

As a fellow ex-eating disorder, I always empathised with Diana, but I do think she was- for want of a better term- bonkers, and someone who would have needed ongoing psychiatric help had she lived. She was always my favourite, though (maybe because of this reason), and I often reflect upon my home life as a late teenager/ early twenty-something as being like 'I was Princess Diana (how vainglorious... and ridiculous!😉) and my family the royal family.' In that I suppose I mean that I was new and modern, and they were old-fashioned and stiff upper lip. Which, in my opinion, gets you nowhere.  I also do think that there's more to her death than meets the eye, so I do understand why conspiracy theories still abound.

This is a very good, well-researched, detailed read if you don't already know the backstory (and really, by now, don't we all?)

THE MURDERS AT WHITE HOUSE FARM by CAROL ANN LEE

THE MURDERS AT WHITE HOUSE FARM

BY CAROL ANN LEE

THE BLURB:-

On 7 August 1985, Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons Nicholas and Daniel were discovered at their home, White House Farm in Essex. They had been shot dead.

It seemed a straightforward case of murder-suicide. A semi-automatic rifle was found on Sheila's body, a bible lay at her side. All the windows and doors of the farmhouse were secure, and the Bambers' son, 24-year-old Jeremy, had alerted police after apparently receiving a phone call from his father, who told him Sheila had 'gone berserk'. But a dramatic turn of events was to disprove the police's theory and, in October 1986, Jeremy Bamber was convicted of killing his entire family in order to inherit his parents' substantial estates. He has always maintained his innocence.

Drawing on interviews and correspondence with many of those closely connected to the killings, including Jeremy Bamber himself, Carol Ann Lee brings astonishing clarity to a complex and emotive case. The Murders at White House farm is a gripping account of one of Britain's most notorious crimes.

THE REALITY:-

Boy, was I glad to finish reading this one- it was starting to give me nightmares! Although thorough, it was quite long-winded (well, I suppose it would be- a lot of evidence was put forward for the case and a lot has been rehashed since, via Jeremy Bamber's subsequent appeals.) But, coming on the back of me watching the TV series, then reading Colin Caffell's book (father of the murdered twins) I just feel that I'm all Bambered out.

Did he do it? Hell, yeah. If he's as innocent as he likes to make out (and I suppose he would say that, wouldn't he? It's his only light at the end of the tunnel of his full life sentence) then I suggest he does something about his personal delivery, as the crime is written all over his eyes in every picture I've ever seen of him. I do think, however, that the evidence that convicted him was flawed. You have a jilted ex-girlfriend- which makes it a his word against hers situation; a silencer that was not discovered by the police, but by a family member (who stood to inherit if Jeremy Bamber was convicted) and a crime scene that was not properly protected by the police, as they initially thought it was a murder/suicide situation. As mentioned in the book, it's interesting that we don't have the Scottish “not proven” option, as that is what I think the verdict would have been. But arrogant Bamber would have killed again, thinking that that was exactly what he was entitled to do, having got away with one heinous crime already. The guy is a psychopath (despite tests saying the contrary) and he is mad. Shame, as he's very good looking. What a waste!

If you're interested in the case then you'll enjoy this. My favourite parts were the background to Jeremy and his family. If I'm ever in the area, then I'll go for a ghoulish nosey at White House Farm.

IN SEARCH OF THE RAINBOW'S END by COLIN CAFFELL

IN SEARCH OF THE RAINBOW'S END

BY COLIN CAFFELL

THE BLURB:-

IN 1985, THE SHOCKING MURDER OF A FAMILY OF FIVE IN A QUIET COUNTRY HOUSE IN ESSEX ROCKED THE NATION.

The victims were Nevill and June Bamber; their adopted daughter Sheila Caffell, divorced from her husband Colin; and Sheila and Colin's twin sons, Nicholas and Daniel. Only one survivor remained: the Bamber's other adopted child, Jeremy Bamber. Following his lead, the police - and later the press - blamed the murders on Sheila, who, so the story went, then committed suicide.

Written by Sheila's ex-husband Colin and originally published in 1994, In Search of the Rainbow's End is the first and only book about the White House Farm murders to have been written by a family member. It is the inside story of two families into whose midst the most monstrous events erupted. When Jeremy Bamber is later convicted on all five counts of murder, Colin is left to pick up the pieces of his life after not only burying his ex-wife, two children and parents-in-law, but also having to cope with memories of Sheila almost shattered by a predatory press hungry for stories of sex, drugs and the high life.

Colin's tale is not just a rare insider's picture of murder, but testimony to the strength and resilience of one man in search of healing after trauma: he describes his process of recovery, a process that led to his working in prisons, helping to rehabilitate, among others, convicted murderers.

By turns emotive, terrifying, and inspiring, Colin Caffell's account of mass murder and its aftermath will not fail to move and astonish the reader.

THE REALITY:-

After watching the ITV drama White House Farm, which depicted the events of this real-life case, I bought this book. I was already familiar with the case. I had just turned fourteen when it happened, and I remember reading the newspaper headlines the next day. BAMBI KILLER! the story shouted from the page as, initially, it looked like Sheila Caffell (nee Bamber) had murdered her family before turning the gun on herself (incidentally, we find out in the book that the nickname 'Bambi'- no doubt inspired by the Disney movies and the play on words involving the killing of the mule deer- was one placed upon her, and rarely used by herself. Her friends knew her as 'Bambs'.)

At the time, my first reaction was, 'Why don't they interview that brother? He did it!' I was, of course, referring to Jeremy Bamber, who currently sits in prison (where he belongs- we can all sleep safely in our beds now) serving a full-life sentence. His arrest, six weeks later came as no shock to me.

My motivation for reading this work is that I'm researching the therapeutic potential of creative writing for my current MA project, so I was interested to find out how Colin Caffell dealt with his grief. Aside from seeing some very interesting practitioners (including psychics, dream analysts and someone who deciphered what Nicholas and Daniel Caffell's seemingly prophetic drawings leading up to their murders were all about,) sculptor Colin also used art as a way of soothing his soul, and took part in a workshop programme which he then trained in and rolled out himself; dealing with victims of trauma and, eventually, those who had caused trauma, such as murderers in a prison setting.

I learnt a lot from this work- for both my personal and professional development- and my heart goes out to this man. I'm never going to be accused of being the softest human being (like Sheila, I had issues with my mother and brother, and I'm glad her family life is depicted honestly here, and not as something that's all tickety-boo) but even I struggle with understanding someone who can fire bullets into the heads of six-year-old boys.  I also sympathised with the trouble Colin Caffell had to put up with with the press harassing him, and twisting stories around in a bid to increase sales with their daily scandal-mongering.

The next time I'm in Highgate Cemetery, where these blonde little angels rest, I will try to locate their grave (they were buried in the same coffin, which included Sheila's ashes) and say hi.😢  An unsettling, but essential read.

ABIDE WITH ME by ELIZABETH STROUT

ABIDE WITH ME

BY ELIZABETH STROUT

THE BLURB:-

Katherine is only five years old. Struck dumb with grief at her mother's death, it is down to her heartbroken father, the minister Tyler Caskey, to draw his daughter out of the silence she has observed in the wake of the family's tragedy.

But Tyler Caskey is barely surviving himself. His cold, church-assigned home is colder still since Lauren's death, and he struggles to find the right words for his sermons; struggles to be a leader when he himself is lost.

When Katherine's schoolteacher calls to discuss his daughter's anti-social behaviour, it sparks a chain of events that begins to tear down Tyler's defences. The small-town rumour mill has much to make of Katherine's odd behaviour, and even more to say about Tyler's relationship with his housekeeper, Connie Hatch. And in Tyler's darkest hour, a startling discovery will test his congregation's humanity- and his own will to endure the kinds of trials that sooner or later test us all.

THE REALITY:-

This was a novel which burned with a gentle melancholy; easy to read, put down and re-visit, which didn't initially set the soul alight but which, conversely, gripped me from the first page.

I bought this as the author came recommended by one of the tutors at my university, and I chose this particular book as it depicts what life is like for a minister, and my current novel-in-progress is about a vicar's daughter. So, in a way, it was a research book.

In that respect, I could have been let down, as the book is set in the USA, and they do things differently there! But, as I progressed, I found out that the sentiment of the lifestyle is the same, and I enjoyed the way the state of Maine came together on the page. I totally got oddball Katherine (really, I was a similar child myself and, like Katherine, questioned whether there was a God and, if so, was he any good.) Katherine is grieving for her mother, and I like the way this forthright child didn't seem to want to court favoritism, and I laughed at the stupid way over-dramatic teachers seemed to read too much into her behaviour and drawings. This resonated- I had trouble with these old cows at school, too! I also developed a hatred for the gossipy, bitchy women in the small town.  Oh yes- I've had experience of this as well, both in the small town I grew up in, and also in the fashion industry. I call these kind of nasty pieces of two-faced (they're the kind of women who gossip about someone then, straight afterwards, put down the phone then call up someone else to gossip about the person they've just been speaking to) work 'harpies'.  Uurrgghh.

I enjoyed the way the sanctity of marriage was shown on the page, through the ups and downs of several imperfect (and really, aren't they all?) relationships, including Tyler and Lauren's and really felt for Tyler as he broke down, and was gladdened to see his community laying aside its bitchiness and standing up for him.

I had to google an unfamiliar American term- apparently, a rube is someone who's hick and uneducated, and picked up on the nastiness of Tyler's in-laws through their actions (and was Mr. Slatin some kind of paedophile?- it was implied rather than clarified- but the writing still worked.)

A good, superior story.