by Margie Orford
SYNOPSIS
When danger lies in the eye of the beholder, what happens when you reject its pull?
Cora carries secrets her daughter can't know.
Freya is frightened by what her mother leaves unsaid.
Angel will only bury the past if it means putting her abusers into the ground.
One act of violence sets the three women on a collision course, each desperate to find the truth. In a nail-biting thriller set between the scorched red soil of South Africa, the pitiless snowfields of Canada and the chilly lochsides of western Scotland, each woman must contend with the spectres of male violence, sexual abuse and the choices we each make to keep our souls.
REVIEW
Cora is a well-known artist who has made a decent name for herself. However, her work is based on the theme of trauma and her recent exhibition 'Forbidden Fruit' caused a bit of a scandal in the media and even led to the Police questioning her daughter, Freya.
Angel has had a troubled past but now keeps her head down working with wolves in a remote sanctuary. When the dog owned by local art dealer Yves Fournier turns up at her workplace, Angel decides to return him. However, when she arrives at the house, he is nowhere to be seen. It begins to look like something bad might have happened to Yves, and with her background it is easy to see why the Police might think Angel is involved.
The Eye of the Beholder deals with some dark subjects and the way the story looks at abuse and revenge leaves a big impact which stays on your mind for a long time after you have finished reading. This book gave me the same feeling as when I read Notes on an Execution earlier this year - it is written with such a unique voice, has an unusual storyline which is really captivating and creates a chilling atmosphere. I loved the way all of the different strands of the story came together.
I haven't read the Clare Hart novels by Margie Orford to compare, and the subject matter might be difficult for some people to read, but this story does a really good job of looking at the impact that abuse can have and how different women deal with the trauma it has caused them. It's one of those books that is not always pleasant to read but raises a lot of important issues and discussion points.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margie Orford is an award-winning journalist who has been dubbed the Queen of South African Crime Fiction. Her Clare Hart crime novels have been translated into ten languages and are being developed into a television series. She was born in London and spent her formative years in Namibia and South Africa. A Fulbright Scholar, she was educated in South Africa and the United States, has a doctorate in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and is an honorary fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She is President Emerita of PEN South Africa and was the patron of Rape Crisis Cape Town. She now lives in London. @MargieOrford | @MargieTheOrford
Thanks to Anne Cater @RandomTTours, Canongate Books @canongatebooks and Margie Orford @MargieOrford for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Thriller
ISBN: 978-1838856809
Pages: 320pp
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