Nayan Olak keeps seeing Helen Fletcher around town and on his daily run out to the Peaks. She's come back to the old house at the end of the lane, with her teenaged son, Brandon, though nobody seems to remember much about her. Some trouble at school, back in the day. A certain defensiveness. Nayan is powerfully drawn to her, though he doesn't quite know why.
He hasn't risked love since he lost his young family in a terrible accident twenty years before. All his energy has gone into work at the union, where he's now running for the leadership against accomplished newcomer, Megha. It's a huge moment for Nayan, the culmination of everything he believes. But as he grows closer to Helen, and to the possibility that their pasts may have been connected, much more is suddenly threatened than his chances of winning.
***
Until then, on a call to his baby sister in the spring of 2017, Nayan had no clue what her name was.1
***
(Harvill Secker, 25 April 2024, e-galley, 336 pages, ARC from the publisher via NetGalley)
***
***
This is a new author for me. I really liked the title so decided to read The Spoiled Heart. I enjoyed the book a lot and will definitely check out his other works. This is a painful book is read at times, there's just this sense of inevitable sadness and tragedy from the start. This just made me want to keep reading. Even though I knew and it's clear that things are not going to end well, the writing is so good and the characters are so compelling I'd kept turning the pages. The book grapples with powerful, difficult issues and is hard to read at times but I enjoyed it, nevertheless. I'd recommend this.
