BookView Review

BookView Review rated it:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Metador

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Pub date January 10, 2023

ISBN 978-1803135199

Price $15.99 (USD) Paperback, $6.99 Kindle edition

In her poignant debut, King explores the long-term ramifications of childhood trauma in the life of her vulnerable protagonist. Agnes has always struggled with the tortured memories of her troubled childhood, making her a target of opportunists who want nothing but to exploit her. The relationships she makes, the people she trusts always betray her. When her estranged mother contacts her, pleading to see her, Agnes knows it is time she faces the demons of her past and sets out to visit Australia, her birth place. As she begins to investigate her family’s past, she unravels a shocking secret. There’s plenty of potential for melodrama in Agnes’ story: a series of compressed episodes chronicle Agnes’s ordinary life as a child, adolescent, and adult: growing up in a dysfunctional family; neglect, psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her parents; abusive romantic relationships; unhappy marriage; her broken relationship with her immediate and extended family; and her partial amnesia. They beautifully illustrate the ways in which grief circumscribes her life, leaving her helpless. It’s easy to root for Agnes on her difficult journey to self-realization, and the charming Australian setting only adds to the appeal of this intricate tale. The ending, though sad, promises hope for Agnes’s future. A compulsively readable meditation on trauma, grief, survival, and self-discovery. 

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