Free shipping on orders over $99
Family Secrets

Family Secrets 2

by Liz Byrski
Paperback
Publication Date: 01/07/2014
4/5 Rating 2 Reviews

Share This Book:

 
$29.99
"The doyenne of women's fiction" West Australian

From the bestselling author of A Month of Sundays, with new novel At the End of the Day out now.

When patriarch Gerald Hawkins passes away in his Tasmanian home, after ten years of serious illness, his family experience a wave of grief and, admittedly, a surge of relief. Gerald's dominating personality has loomed large over his wife, Connie, their children, Andrew and Kerry, and his sister Flora, for decades.

Connie, whose own dreams were dispensed with upon marriage, is now determined to renew her long friendship with Gerald's estranged sister, Flora. She travels to France where she finds Flora struggling to make peace with the past and searching for a place to call home. Meanwhile Andrew's marriage is crumbling, and Kerry is trapped in stasis by unfinished business with her father.

As the family adjusts to life after Gerald, they could not be more splintered. But there are surprises in store and secrets to unravel. And once the loss has been absorbed, is it possible that they could all find a way to start afresh with forgiveness, understanding and possibility?

PRAISE FOR LIZ BYRSKI

"Her plots and characters get stronger with each book" The Sydney Morning Herald

"Liz Byrski has a guaranteed cheer squad for her novels which champion...women taking charge of their life and growing old creatively" Daily Telegraph

Fans of Monica McInerney, Liane Moriarty and Joanna Trollope will love Liz Byrski.
ISBN:
9781742613925
9781742613925
Category:
Contemporary fiction
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
01-07-2014
Language:
English
Publisher:
Pan Macmillan Australia
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
416
Dimensions (mm):
232x155x31mm
Weight:
0.52kg
Liz Byrski

Liz Byrski is the author of eight novels and a number of non-fiction books.

She has worked as a freelance journalist, a broadcaster with ABC Radio and an advisor to a minister in the Western Australian Government.

Liz has a PhD in writing from Curtin University where she is the Director of the China Australia Writing Centre.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

3.67

Based on 2 reviews

5 Star
(0)
4 Star
(2)
3 Star
(1)
2 Star
(0)
1 Star
(0)

2 Reviews

We love Australian author Liz Bryski for the depth she brings to family relationships. Absorbing and entertaining, is it possible to start afresh with forgiveness? When Connies husband Gerald passes away, Connie takes her life and dreams back into her own hands and pursues a life that she wants. Liz has such brilliant plot lines and characterization. This is one great winter read!

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse

When Liz Byrski turned fifty she keenly felt the lack of literature that reflected the lives of women in mid life, and drawing on her experience as a journalist and freelance writer, set out to change that by writing the sort of books that she wanted to read.

Family Secrets is Liz Byrski's eighth fiction novel, a story about love, regrets, forgiveness and redemption.

After a long, debilitating illness, Gerald Hawkins passing is both a cause for sadness and relief for his wife Connie, and his adult children Kerry and Andrew. For decades they have lived their lives as Gerald, a dominant man, had wished them too and now that he is gone they are all forced to find their own way forward.

Connie chooses to revisit her past, announcing her plans to go to England for an extended holiday, hoping to reconnect with the woman she was before she married Gerald and gave up her dreams to become a dutiful wife and mother in Tasmania, and to rekindle her relationship with her childhood best friend, and Gerald's sister, Flora, who has been estranged from the family for many years. Connie's journey is not what she imagined it would be however, especially when she is confronted with some home truths about the choices she made and the person she has become.

Meanwhile her children are grappling with their changing futures. Andrew, disillusioned with his career and his marriage, is unsurprised to discover his wife's affair but determined to protect his teenage daughter, Brooke, from the fall-out. Kerry, harbouring long held resentment and guilt about her father is at a loss when he dies, and is left struggling with the symptoms of clinical depression.

Byrski explores the way in which it is often difficult to be honest with ourselves, and others, and the corrosive nature of failing to accept the truth. Each main character in Family Secrets is challenged to reconcile their past and escape the shadow of Gerald's legacy by taking responsibility for the people whom they have become, and making changes that allow them to reconnect with the people they love.

I thought Family Secrets was an engaging read, not especially gripping but a thoughtful and well told story of realistic domestic drama.

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse