by Orla Owen
SYNOPSIS
Susan Brown is trapped. She lives in nurses’ accommodation she hates, on the run from a past she detests, desperate for a future she can’t afford. Yet.
Calton Jonas is lost. He travels across the country, from beach to city, settling in a small town with a job at the morgue.
Jeffrey Jeffreys is happy as long as life provides him with enough whiskey and beer.
Their lives cross. Old wounds open. Susan takes control but not all of them can survive...
REVIEW
Susan has had a difficult life and suffered years of abuse from her mother when she was growing up. Irreversibly scarred (both mentally and physically), she attempts to live a normal life, but to everyone around her, she is just a little bit off. In a final attempt to build the pretence of a normal family, Susan decides that Jeffrey would make an acceptable husband. As he and the unsuspecting Calton soon find out, Susan only has time for people who are useful to her. Once she has taken everything she needs, they need to be very wary of the consequences.
Pah is a domestic thriller which focuses on the darker side of humanity, the fractures in family life and the classic debate or nature versus nurture. Susan is probably the most dysfunctional protagonist I've ever read about who still held a place in my heart because of the horrific things she herself had to endure as a child. Fantastically written, Susan is the ultimate love to hate character who will definitely divide opinions.
This book is actually a prequel to 'The Lost Thumb' but having reading both novels it is clear that they work well in either order. There are so many aspects still left to explore so I am really hoping that there could be a third instalment!
Pah is a dark but addictive novel, the sections about motherhood really stood out to me as some of the boldest observations I can remember on the subject. It's not often that you read something quite as raw as this but it fits Susan's character perfectly. Another compelling novel from Orla Owen!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Orla Owen is a writer, online editor, and author of the novel The Lost Thumb. PAH is her second novel. In 2020 she won second place in the Sandstone Press Short fiction competition and was published in Storgy magazine. Her writing focuses on the dark and macabre side of family life, the parts that go on behind closed doors. Before she became a writer, she was an actress and drama practitioner, studying Theatre at Bretton Hall College of the Arts. She has performed at the Royal Court and Edinburgh fringe, as well as working on The Women's Theatre Workshop mentoring scheme. Supporting women in writing is important to her and she worked on a writers’ mentoring scheme, as an assistant to the author Kerry Hudson, at the WoMentoring Project. She’s currently working on her third novel.
Twitter: @orlaowenwriting
Website: www.orlaowen.com
Instagram: @orlaowenwriting
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours and Orla Owen - @orlaowenwriting for the opportunity to read and review.
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Nielsen
ISBN: 978-1916036628
Pages: 268pp
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