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!