by Kirsten Alexander
Publisher: Ultimo Press, 2025
Review
by Kath Truran
There have been many books written about women fleeing toxic, violent relationships. This is one such example, butin some ways more confronting than most. The author’s description of Adam’s appalling treatment of Giselle, his wife of seven years, is so graphic I wondered if the author was writing from a position of personal experience.
I felt deeply sorry for Giselle. The recent loss of her sister, Lina, from cancer that provoked a coroner’s inquiry added to her grief. At the same time I had the thought that I imagine is so often the response to women in Giselle’s situation: “why on earth don’t you leave him”? Giselle is a talented artist and an author in her own right. The way out of the situation seems so clear, yet time and again she finds reason to stay. When she does finally flee, it is to a place she and Adam had talked about visiting, and he is able to track her down.
She retreats to Yorkshire Dales, a place as as different from her home in Melbourne as it is possible to be. Giselle’s landlady is a wealthy woman who befriends her, shows Giselle the beauty of the surrounding countryside and tells her stories. She talks to her about her time at Greenham Common where she and other women protested against the storage of nuclear weapons on English soil.
Elements of this book are engaging and make for a good read. However two things stand out. Giselle’s landlady, Margaret, while being a supportive person when Giselle needs her most seemed to me to have traits of controlling behaviour towards her. It seemed as if Giselle was attracted to those qualities in people she became close to.
The other thing that stood out was the way elements of the supernatural were introduced into the final chapters of the book. I found difficult to relate to this. It drew us towards the resolution, and I’m sure there are readers who will appreciate it. For me it detracted from the strength of an otherwise powerful story. This was a pity because this novel highlights important issues and the tragedy of women living in such dreadful situations.
Publisher’s blurb
Fleeing Melbourne for a village in the Yorkshire Dales had felt right. Sanctuary, I’d thought.
But nowhere is as straightforward as it first appears.
When Giselle escapes to the north Yorkshire village of Hollydale, she doesn’t give much thought to what she might find there. She’s more concerned with what she’s leaving behind – a toxic marriage, the loss of her beloved sister, Lina, and the cloud of suspicion over the circumstances of Lina’s death.
But in this small community she makes new and fascinating friends, chief among them Margaret, a wealthy elderly local who lives in Chatswood Hall, the mansion perched on a hill above the village, and Tom, the local handyman. Giselle hopes to start life over, but the past cannot be outrun and her husband will not be cut loose, threatening to arrive in Hollydale at any moment.
When a bomb explodes on the one road that leads to her cottage, Giselle realises that her Hollydale life is larger and more complicated than she’d understood.
A story about intergenerational friendship between women, coercive relationships and power, and the endless possibilities new connections can bring.