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After 14 years as JP’s wife and 11 as Kate’s mother, affection has turned to habit for Sylvia Larkin, and though she reflects that “love is the easy bit”, her marriage has become “hard work” and motherhood is now “a script I don’t know”. Such doubts are heightened by the reappearance of an old lover, Arthur, who rekindles her long-dead dream of becoming an artist and sends her on a journey through her own and her family’s past hurts. It is a voyage that will ultimately force her to tackle her demons head on and to rebuild her relationships with her husband and daughter. An expert in the healing benefits of the arts, Grehan is not afraid to tackle subjects such as suicide and postnatal depression realistically and sensitively, and her novel will strike a chord with women who feel under pressure to conform to society’s expectation that they be perfect wives and mothers. A sharp, modern and funny debut.
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