1984: miner's strike; the suspicious death of a baby; a troubled housing estate; a reporter with some personal and emotional problems of her own.
Clare Jackson follows the story of the dead baby and finds herself entangled with the life of a neglected young girl who knows more about the baby's death than anyone realizes and whose lies cause more tragedies. Unable to keep herself from becoming too close to nine-year-old Amy, Clare also finds herself entangled with the possible connection to the strikers.
Clare is one of those characters that you want to reach in and shake. Clare's own troubled past is interfering with her ability to keep from becoming personally involved with her stories, and while I was able to sympathize with her situation, I was certainly frustrated by her blindness to the possibilities that all was not what it seemed.
Although Davenport only concentrates on a small segment of the striking minors, she provides a view of what life might have been like for the miners, their families, and the scabs who broke the picket lines.
NetGalley/Legend Press
Mystery. Oct. 1, 2014. Print length: 256 pages.
Sounds like a character - driven story. I thought the plot is interesting but it'd be better if it has more intrigue to it.
ReplyDeleteCharacters like Clare can really annoy me. This sounds like an interesting read though, especially in regards to the historical aspect.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of this novel -- with the miner's strikes -- is intriguing to me. Despite the somewhat predictable conclusion, this sounds like a good novel. Great review!
ReplyDeleteMelody - There were some interesting parts and the possibility that what you believe happened might be a deliberate misleading, but....
ReplyDeleteWendy - I would have liked the novel better if Clare had been a little more alert to her own flawed thinking. :)
Irene - It is an interesting time period, and a perfect setting for a mystery.