My Sister’s Bones – Nuala Ellwood
Kate Rafter is a high-flying war reporter. She’s the strong one. The one who escaped their father. Her younger sister Sally didn’t. Instead, she drinks.
But when their mother dies, Kate is forced to return home. And on her first night she is woken by a terrifying scream.
At first Kate tells herself it’s just a nightmare. But then she hears it again. And this time she knows she’s not imagining it.
What secret is lurking in the old family home?
And is she strong enough to uncover it…and make it out alive?
My thanks to Annie at Penguin Random House for my review copy
Another book that I picked up without knowing what lay ahead – no description on the cover of my proof copy so everything which happened, from the first word, was totally unexpected. It is a really refreshing way to read a story and in the case of My Sister’s Bones it made all the twists more shocking.
We meet Kate, she is a reporter and has been covering events in Syria but it quickly becomes apparent that Kate is struggling. She has been detained and her mental stability is being examined by a psychologist. If Kate cannot convince the doctor that she is of sufficiently sound mind and not a danger to the public (and herself) she may be sectioned under the mental health act. So for the first section of the book we have Kate under a microscope as her life is picked apart.
Kate’s story makes for uncomfortable reading. A difficult upbringing in a house with a drunken father. A family tragedy. A sister she cannot connect with and who now spends her days in a drunken haze. Then there is the not-insignificant trauma of reporting from war torn Syria…Kate’s stories seem to focus on how the conflict is impacting on families and children.
As Kate is interrogated, her worst memories are exposed, analysed and discussed. She is nearing breaking point. But from a reader’s perspective it is fascinating reading – the author has brilliantly captured the horror that Kate experiences while in Syria and it makes the problems she encounters on her return home all the more upsetting.
The narrative does not just follow Kate – we get a look at her sister Sally too. Sally the drunk. Sally the girl who alienated her sister and didn’t stand up to her dad. Sally who has her own tale to tell. Sally who has her own problems, her own demons. Sally who is possibly more complex and conflicted character I have encountered for some time.
This story of two sisters is going to be memorable, there are both going to face tough times, there are shocks a plenty and more than once I had to revise my guess as to where the story may be heading. Well worth adding to your reading queue.
My Sisters Bones is published by Penguin and is available in digital format here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/My-Sisters-Bones-Nuala-Ellwood-ebook/B01HYTW6NS/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478298576&sr=1-1&keywords=my+sisters+bones
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