Like many print journalists in the internet age, Kate Waters - a reporter for the 'London Daily Post' - is anxious about her employment. The paper is slated to let some reporters go, and Kate - wanting job security - needs a good story to impress her boss.
Hence, when Kate learns that an infant's bones were dug up at a London excavation site, she thinks it's just the ticket. Kate proceeds to investigate the incident, with an eye to publishing the identity of the child's mother and the circumstances surrounding the burial.
Kate's initial article about the tiny corpse strikes a chord with two women, former nurse Angela Irving and book editor Emma Simmonds.
Angela Irving gave birth to a baby girl, Alice, over forty years ago - but didn't get to take the infant home. The newborn was stolen from the hospital and never found. Angela, who still hasn't recovered from the loss, thinks the unearthed baby might be her child.
Emma Simmonds grew up on the street where the baby was found, and lived there until she was sixteen. News of the uncovered newborn makes Emma very anxious, but we don't learn why until later.
Most of the story is told from three rotating points of view: Kate, Angela, and Emma.
Kate, an experienced journalist with helpful police contacts, interviews both Angela and Emma - and gets on the inside track with both of them. Thus, when the cops compare Angela's DNA with the baby's DNA, Kate is one of the first to know the results. And when Emma decides to recount her story, she tells it to the reporter. The police aren't always happy about Kate's 'interference', but she actually helps their investigation.
Kate Waters was first introduced in Fiona Barton's previous novel, 'The Widow', in which she was a VERY aggressive journalist - who'd do anything to get her story. I found Kate to be overly abrasive in that novel, and didn't like her much.
In this book Kate is STILL pushy, but demonstrates some of her softer side - both at home and at work.....where she's mentoring a young reporter named Joe. Kate remains focused on getting scoops and writing juicy articles, but shows empathy for Angela and Emma. So that's good.
In Angela's narrative, we learn about her husband Nick and their two grown children, who find it difficult to deal with Angela's unquenchable grief.
Angela is desperate for closure regarding Alice - even if it means learning that the child died a long time ago.
In Emma's story, we find out that she was a troubled girl who had a turbulent relationship with her mother Jude, an attorney.
Jude raised Emma alone, and though Emma asked constantly, Jude wouldn't identify the father. This had unfortunate consequences.
Things got even worse when Jude's boyfriend, Will, moved in with them. Jude was forced to choose between her man and her daughter, and she chose Will - forcing 16-year-old Emma to move out. As a result, mother and daughter didn't speak for years.
Emma is married to an 'older man' - a college professor named Paul - who's very solicitous of her welfare. Emma loves Paul, but has kept a lot of secrets from him. For her part, Jude doesn't like Paul and would like to see her daughter split up with him. In fact Jude - who recounts some sections of the book - shows herself to be a callous, selfish woman who's desperate for a man. She's also a terrible mother (IMO).
As Kate and the police pursue their inquiries, big secrets are revealed - things that eventually pull all the threads of the story together in a very satisfying way.
My major qualm with the book is a plot point that stretches credibility quite a bit - more than I'm comfortable with.
Overall, I enjoyed this suspenseful, well-written book, which has compelling characters and a page-turner storyline. I highly recommend the book to mystery lovers, who'll enjoy trying to puzzle out what's going on.
Rating: 3.5 stars
This is one I want to read, nice review.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla. I think you'd like it. :)
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