HIDDEN LIVES by JUDITH LENNOX

 HIDDEN LIVES

BY JUDITH LENNOX

THE BLURB:-

A surprise inheritance reveals the hidden lives of two sisters torn apart by tragedy...

Following her grandmother's death, Rose Martineau inherits The Egg, an extraordinary house nestling in the Sussex countryside. She discovers that the mysterious house originally belonged to her grandmother's younger sister, Sadie, who Rose never knew existed. In her search to uncover why the sisters grew apart, Rose is drawn back into the glamorous and decadent world of the 1930s.

Meanwhile, Rose's own life as a dutiful wife and mother is turned upside down by a sordid scandal that threatens to destroy her marriage. It is only once she has unravelled the secrets of Sadie's past that she is able to look to her own future...

THE REALITY:-

I've read most of Judith Lennox's modern day (and by “modern day I mean set in the 20^th century, as opposed to her earliest offerings, which I believe were medieval) novels. This was not one of my favourites, but it wasn't one of the worst either. In fact, I've liked all of her work, and I can't say that this took me long to finish (a week) so it must have had something going for it!

With a good supply of varied characters, this book ambled along in the dual time frames of the 1930s and 1970s- mostly sequentially, with a few abstract hints near the start. I thoroughly enjoyed the depiction of printmaker Sadie's 1930s bohemian life, style and that of the two stunning houses she inherited. I also liked Rose's 1970s life (the decade in which I was born), tempered by actual events such as striking and power cuts. Through Rose and her employee/ paramour Dan I learnt a lot about the aviation business, which appears to have been well-researched. It was with the pleasure of schadenfreude, however, that I wish the author had gone into more salacious detail with the ins-and-outs of Rose's faithless husband's visits to his dominatrix prostitute- now that would have piqued my interest somewhat! But it's not the way in which Ms. Lennox writes. That she even mentions Robert (the aforementioned husband) coming during sex with his wife is, I think, a first for her.

One thing I've noticed is that this author has written so many books that themes are repeated- in this case a panic attack taking place in a Tube train, the (spoiler alert) body of a disappearing character being found on the very land they own, and an interesting piece of jewellery (Sadie's fantastic Art Deco engagement ring), which is something of a relevance, uncovered.  I did enjoy this read, and really loved the colourful character of Sadie, and certainly can relate to the fact that some of us are just not meant to have that "one special person" in life. Following heartbreak, Sadie falls into the arms of Tom, which (another spoiler alert!) ultimately costs her her life, and then finds true love in Andres.

I did work out the ending way before the end, though. What I would have liked to have seen was Sadie- who'd previously been treated in a mental hospital- having been committed, and being discovered still alive- albeit incarcerated. But I wasn't writing the story. And you can't have everything!

THE DISAPPEARANCE by KATHERINE WEBB

 THE DISAPPEARANCE

BY KATHERINE WEBB

THE BLURB:-

What was hidden will be revealed...

When Frances's best friend, Bronwyn, disappeared over twenty years ago, her body was never found. And in that moment Frances's life changed forever.

Now it's 1942 and bombs are raining down on Bath. In the chaos a little boy goes missing. Frances was meant to be looking after him and she is tortured by guilt at his disappearance. Where has he gone, and is there any chance he could have survived?

Bombs conceal, but they can also reveal- as quiet falls and the dust settles, a body is disturbed from its hiding place. What happened to Bronwyn all those years ago? And can Frances ever put right the wrongs of the past?

THE REALITY:-

Well, my last book took four months to plough through, and this offering took less than a week. Wowzers! I guess I'm never going to be a literary person; and always more of a commercial women's fiction devotee. I always did state, during my MA Creative Writing course, that my reading wasn't exactly highbrow. Mind you, it does include Shakespeare and Dickens, so it can't be that bad, can it? I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I need a storyline, as opposed to a mealy-mouthed exploration of character (although a hybrid- such as the last book I read, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, which offers up both, isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

Whilst not my favourite Katherine Webb book, this certainly wasn't my least liked, and what I enjoyed most was its gently gathering pace, which encourages you to read on. The story flipped between the relevant two timelines easily, in quite short chapters, (or so it seemed) meaning that I never lost the thread of what had gone before. I enjoyed that it was set in Bath, which is a city I've visited and loved, and would certainly return to. I only spent a weekend there, so maybe next time I can explore more off the beaten track, and maybe try and discover some of the areas mentioned in this novel.

The idea of a child so traumatised that they lose part of their memory isn't new to me, and I believe that both Maggie O' Farrell and Lisa Jewell have explored this idea through their novels. I have wondered before if this occurrence is even possible. I don't know- but as this story came across as believable, I'll not explore this point further.

Very atmospheric, and with some extremely (and painfully) “real” characters, the chief protagonist wasn't easy to work out, and I would never have guessed it was (spoiler alert!) smooth, charmer Clive. I also didn't guess that it was drunken Carys trailing Frances throughout the novel (I always love a female villain!) I did wonder how, in a small community, Frances didn't manage to chance upon Clive in all the years since he'd (another spoiler alert!) abused and terrified her. But I suppose that part of make-believe had to be invented, to make Frances's puzzlement over whom the stranger in the hospital bed actually was take shape.

For me, the most enjoyable part of the novel was the friendship between Bronwyn and Frances, and the details surrounding the discovery of the circumstances surrounding Bronwyn's death and burial. An unusual (for that time) character, in that she didn't follow the norms of convention, both in her style of dressing and her attitude, Frances was extremely likeable, as was her adulterous paramour, Owen.

A good read; it's certainly worth a go. Oh, and by the way, I love, love, LOVE the cover, with its holographic 3D girl in the red coat.