Betrayal

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The characters Eve, Tabby, Olly and Marianne are all interesting and multifaceted. However I found Tom a bit one-dimensional, fitting the archetypal "prince" character. I felt so sorry for Eve and her children but I loved how her character evolved as the story progressed and she started to get more confident in building a new life for herself. She found some really good friends and began to hope that she might even find love again. I really enjoyed the fact that she went from downtrodden to ambitious and I admired her for what she achieved. Despite some flaws, I found Eve to be a strong and brave protagonist in many ways. All she wants is the best for her children, even if she's weighed down with such a burden that she can't share. This also means that's she has surpressed trust issues and can't fully commit to another romance in the future.

Storytelling at its best from a great author who I have followed for years and read all her books and she never disappoints. Turns out that one of the flings is grooming/ sleeping with her daughter, so she catches him and calls the cops.With Lesley Pearse's reputation for grippy, gritting stories that never shy away from the seamier side of life, I was expecting distressing themes from Betrayal. And, yes, this story pulled no punches – literally – from the very start. She could not do it for herself, even when they arrive at the women's refuge that a specialist solicitor has gotten them into, Eve's sense of denial is such that she finds it hard to relate her circumstances to the other women there. Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. Yes, he gave her two beautiful children - Olly and Tabitha - but he is a bully. Worse than that, he hurts her. Betrayal looks at the worst kind of domestic violence and does so with a sharp eye for detail and a sympathetic way of recounting a story which is all too familiar namely that of women who are scared of the consequences of leaving a violent partner. In Eve Hathaway the author has created a feisty and determined woman, who once away from her violent husband, has the ability to make a new life for herself and her children and yet with the shadow of uncertainty hanging above her the author shows just how fragile this new life can be and learning to trust isn't easy as Eve discovers to her cost and that of her family's safety.

Eve is seen by, and supported by women-the act of biology in being born a woman leaves you open to abuse and betrayal in a way that men cannot understand the vulnerability that we live with on a daily basis. In the same way that you cannot equivocate male/female domestic violence with male/male or female/male, each case needs to be recognised and supported with absolute trust. One of the worst things that those who have been abused have to face is the , what I call, 'was it really that bad?' narrative, or the 'I wouldn't let that happen to me!' reaction which shuts down honest conversation and applies a passive aggressive guilt to the victim, regardless of sex. Eve Hathaway's husband Don is the worst kind of bully. For years she's put up with his beating and berating towards herself and their children Tabby and Ollie. Finally, FINALLY after one too many instances of the abuse, Eve finds the courage to walk away. But then here’s the contrasting thing…the book highlighted some really difficult subjects including marital abuse, grooming and suicide, to name but a few, and didn’t shy away from them, in fact it is a brutal start to the book….which then made the other parts seem so contrastedEve thought she married the love of her life. And everytime he hit her, she told herself that it would get better, he just had a bad day, it won't always be like this. But Don's abusive behaviour got worse with each day and when he started taking his anger out on her infront of the kids, and then on her kids, she knew that it was finally time to get them out. Got to say I don’t think I am the target audience for this book, generally I read a lot of what is classed ‘women’s fiction’ and love it but this for me actually did feel it was correctly labelled, a bit Mills and Boon ish in large swathes of it