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A compelling examination of how secrets can tear one family apart; the tale moves from the repressed society of 1930s England where the consequences of two men’s actions still reverberate through their families in the present day. Bored housewife and mother Helen has always known her grandfather Edward was a famous author, but her parents had severed connection with him whilst she was still young, refusing to discuss the matter.
After embarking on a whirlwind affair with her writing tutor, Helen decides to visit her reclusive grandfather and discover more about the identity of the mysterious ‘Rose’ in his most famous novel, Interlude, who has baffled critics for years. Their brief meeting reveals little but when her grandfather dies and makes Helen his executor she discovers a stash of his diaries and an unpublished manuscript. They reveal a long hidden secret and a forbidden love affair with devastating consequences for her whole family. Helen’s journey is interspersed with Edward’s works which slowly reveal the ambiguity of truth and the depth of deception that permeates the family.
A stirring look at not just the treachery of family secrets but of how truth can be buried within a text and how society imposes limits on love.
Author: Rupert Smith
Paperback, 256 pages, Published 2014