A father dies; a mother, Deborah, feels unable to cope without him and withdraws into herself leaving her two young daughters, Lexie and Annie, feeling neglected and unloved. Then Deborah meets a new man, Robert, and is happy to surrender to him all care and responsibility for raising the children and running their lives.
Consequences flow from Deborah’s virtual abandonment of her daughters in this utterly engrossing story. Lexie and Annie are two very different personalities. Robert’s control and Deborah’s submission mean they each have to work out how to survive in the strict, cult-like community to which they have been brought. One is able to make compromises in order to reach her goals but the other struggles to accept the unfairness of their new way of life.
Kelly Rimmer’s take on the outcomes of excessive control and the apparent withdrawal of affection is sympathetic and insightful in the tradition of Charity Norman, Margaret Forster and Lionel Shriver. This is a story of sadness and happiness and, ultimately, hard won hope.
This is a thought-provoking book while at the same time being an absolute page-turner!
Published by Hachette Australia
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