A frank and beautiful story of damage, survival and restoration from an exhilarating literary voice.
As Charles Redfern lies motionless in hospital, his wife Anne and daughter Charlotte are forced to confront their relationships with him - and with each other. Anne, once beautiful and clever, has paled in the shadow of her husband's dominance. Charlotte, meanwhile, is battling with her own inner darkness and is desperate to prevent her relationship with her not-yet-divorced lover from disintegrating.
As the full truth of Charles's hold over them is brought to light, both women must reconcile themselves with the choices they have made, the secrets they have kept, and the uncertain future that now lies ahead of them.
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[At first he does not realise he's bleeding]***
(Fourth Estate, 4 May 2017, first published 1 January 2011, 257 pages, ebook, borrowed from @AmazonKindle #PrimeReading)
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This book really unsettled me. Judging by the blurb, I thought it would be a sad novel about a man dying and his grieving with and daughter. However, as the book gradually reveals Charles's relationship with his wife and daughter I realised it was a different kind of book altogether. Charles is not a nice man and as the flesh-crawling truth about his relationship with his daughter Charlotte is revealed it made me shudder. Things are not quite as nasty as they could have been, thanks to Anna but that didn't make it any less unpleasant. Scissors, Paper, Stone is an intense read.
