5*’s
Jessica Ruston’s latest book grabbed me the moment I turned the first page with the postman delivering a package to Klara. Klara doesn’t immediately open the package but once she does she finds a key and a mysterious letter telling her that the sender had kept it safe for her mother for the last 24 years. The letter was simply signed N.R.
Klara has not seen her mother since she was a very young child, one day she left and a few years later her father broke the news that she had died while in America. Full of grief he hadn’t wanted to discuss her mother with her, is Klara about to discover the truth?
This is quality woman’s fiction, theories about memories; what makes them, what triggers them and questions about how reliable they are. The feelings of being the odd one out, with different examples walking through the pages of this novel and the deep seated need held by all of us to know who we are and where we come from.
The writing and the pace of the revelations meant that this book made an impression outside the story held within it. The characters were so real I felt I knew some of them, probably because I have met versions of them, and the story though emotional wasn’t without its moments of wry humour, some of the older generation are really horrendous , nuggets of truth aplenty this is certainly a book I will recommend to my friends.
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