The Betrayals by Fiona NeillMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A family friendship betrayed with a deception to reverberate through the years. Rosie and Nick appear to be happily married with two children, Daisy and Max. Rosie’s best friend Lisa is married to Barney with children Ava and Rex. The two families share a week’s holiday on the Norfolk coast in the cottage where Rosie grew up. But tensions mount between Lisa and Barney, a failing journalist in the music industry, who dwells on past successes as he hits the bottle. And, that summer, Lisa had an affair with Nick.
The repercussions have a terrible affect on Daisy, whose fragile hold on reality begins to unravel. Her level of OCD is chronic with repetitive actions she believes are necessary to protect her mother. Max blames himself for all that happened that summer with his cruel deception…. There is a flavour of Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ here.
Recounted by four principal characters - Rosie, Nick, Daisy and Max this is an accomplished novel depicting a family in crisis. Four sides to a story, who to believe.
And then the letter from Lisa to Rosie, years later, that exposes dark secrets…
A family drama with much to recommend it although I did find the ending a little disappointing.
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