When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother's death, she's focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother's presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters-and ultimately, the truth.
Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea. She has no sense of where she is going; only that she must keep on.
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[He longed for silence]***
(Coronet, 18 April 2019, first published 4 October 2018, 336 pages, paperback, borrowed from @GlasgowLib)
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I was in floods of tears by the time I'd finished reading this beautiful and devastating book. The cheerful yellow cover lulled me into a false sense of security, hiding the darkness lurking within. This book is much darker and more unsettling than I expected. I listened to Norton read an extract and discuss the book on #bigscottishbookclub and wanted to read it. I was delighted when I popped into the library and found a copy. I loved the way A Keeper is structured, with chapters alternating between Elizabeth's present sorting out her mother's things and Patricia's devastating past. I love non-linear narratives. I loved this book so much.