#Review Another Rebecca by Tracey Scott-Townsend @AnneCater #RandomThingsTours

** My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my copy of this book and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour **

 

Description:

A gripping psychological family drama about Rebecca Grey, a sensitive girl who’s spent her childhood caring for her alcoholic mother, Bex. They lurch from one poverty-stricken situation to another until Rebecca is hospitalised with exhaustion. While there, she has an illness-triggered hallucination which entangles her deeper than ever into her mother’s psyche. As an art student, Rebecca can’t understand why she is repeatedly impelled to paint a white horse in a blue landscape. And then there is the boy with yellow hair who she glimpses from the corner of her eye.

Bex’s life was frozen by a shocking tragedy when she was nineteen. Her ‘great grief’ caused her to make a decision which nobody must ever find out about. Rebecca has been implicated in her mother’s lies since the moment of her birth, a fact that her father, Jack, has no inkling of.

As Rebecca gets to know her father’s new family, the gap between her and her mother widens. The mystery of Bex’s dark past comes into focus when an old woman she has never met contacts Rebecca, claiming to be her grandmother.

The thunder of hooves is getting closer for both Rebecca and Bex and the blond-haired boy is more and more often in Rebecca’s dreams. Can Bex continue to keep Rebecca in the dark about the circumstances of her birth, or will the final twist in her tail set Rebecca free to make a new life of her own?

Adapted from a short story written by the author when she was an art student, Another Rebecca was inspired by the painting There is no Night by Jack B. Yeats.

My Thoughts & Review:

This was a book that veered away from my usual reads but seemed to grab my attention when I heard about it.

Told from the perspectives of three characters, Rebecca and her parents, readers are taken on a journey through the years of the family, building up a clear picture of these people and their lives. In the beginning I was a little confused, the opening chapter is a little different from what I’m used to, snippets of what seems to be dreams and thoughts from an unravelling mind but it’s worth sticking with the book, the reward is a unique and thought provoking read.

By using narration from differing perspectives, readers can glimpse into the mindsets of each character, make some form of a connection with them and their plights and glean some understanding of each of them. Whilst not all characters will appeal to readers, there are times where you find yourself sympathising with each of them whilst reading.

This is a poignant tale that delves deep into the fragility of family and the connections of the members. The topics covered in this book make for interesting reading, mental health and addiction are complex ones and they are well written by the author.

You can buy a copy of Another Rebecca via Amazon UK

 

As part of the blog tour, there is a giveaway running to win either a paperback copy of an ecopy of this book, so be sure to check out some of the other stops on the blog tour for your chance to win.