This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Debs Carr
Eva Patterson arrives home from work to discover her mother, Flora, has committed suicide in her bath. Andrew Patterson has always been a little controlling over his wife and children and never very loving towards Eva, but his attitude towards her deteriorates almost immediately after the suicide is discovered. He becomes spiteful and suspicious towards Eva, acting as if he loathes her and blames her for what her mother has done. Eva’s younger siblings, Ben and spoilt Sophia are as stunned as Eva when Andrew drops the bombshell that not only is Eva not his daughter, but that their mother has left her a studio in London that none of the youngsters had ever known existed. She’s also left her half of the family home to Ben and Sophia. Unable to do what he wishes with their house, Andrew slowly turns against them all.
As soon as the funeral is over Eva leaves and moves to live in a nearby bedsit where she meets Todd. When their relationshop falters, Eva, heartsore and unable to cope, leaves hurriedly one night and goes to live in her run-down studio. She has a traumatic encounter, but is helped by a stranger, Phil. With his support and contacts Eva begins to turn her squalid studio into a beautiful home. She then decides that it’s time to track down her real father, discover as much as she can about her mother’s past, and hopefully understand what could have happened to make Flora want to kill herself.
From the very beginning of Forgive Me, I was absorbed into Eva's life as everything she knows is taken from her in one form or another. Her search for her father and the discoveries she makes have a profound effect on Eva. She suffers heartache and cruelty as she attempts to uncover the many secrets her mother has hidden seeingly from those who believed themselves to be closest to her. Eva comes up against people who seem kind, for them to then turn on her, while others take drastic actions that devastate her further.Set in 1991, Forgive Me is a fascinating story of someone being hurt beyond reason and her determined efforts to put together the puzzle of her mother's past. I willed Eva to overcome all the unexpected and difficult events she journeys, both physically and mentally through, to uncovering a dreadful secret that no one could have suspected in her past. I loved every second of this book, it's gritty, moving and heartbreaking, and even when I wasn't reading it I still couldn't help thinking about the characters.
10/10
Lesley Pearse's Website