Betrayal

Product Information

I have always enjoyed Lesley Pearse books way back when I was pregnant with my first child and on maternity leave 40 years ago now. I loved reading about all the characters and the storyline was just brilliant I felt I knew them all by the ending and what a satisfactory ending it was. The beatings that Eve took are not the only shocking thing to happen and I didn't see the other thing coming so that was a complete surprise.

The reader is forced to sit up and start forming their own judgements and it was fascinating to see how things were unfolding. However as I’ve loved all her other books I really wanted to give this one a chance and I’m really glad I did. 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….I initially felt for her and her children, no woman should have to be in a violent and toxic relationship. With her father in the Royal Marines, Lesley and her older brother spent three years in grim orphanages before her father remarried - a veritable dragon of an ex army nurse - and Lesley and her older brother were brought home again, to be joined by two other children who were later adopted by her father and stepmother, and a continuing stream of foster children. Don starts to make Eve’s life a nightmare and refuses to let her go quietly, using intimidating behaviour to frighten her. Eve is to be admired for having the strength to do the right thing and soon herself and the children are placed in a women's refuge run by Marianne. I’ve got about 100 pages left and I am honestly waiting for it to turn my one star into a five star.

Not only does domestic and physical abuse recur heavily, there are also graphic descriptions of peodophelia/grooming and suicide. What I loved more than anything about this book was that it was so easy to read, even considering the difficult subject matter. It is a clear and stark insight into the other side of the equation when those who have -thankfully-never been in a relationship like this, ask 'Why didn't you leave? This is a book that reels you in from the first chapter, throwing the reader straight into the heart of the abuse and the sense of danger and urgency flowing through those first few chapters.

Before I jump into this review, I must stress that Ms Pearse doesn't shy away from the distressing themes in Betrayal. 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. 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. Beautifully written from start to finish and never one to shy away from uneasy topics, Betrayal covers some difficult subjects with this author's trademark skill of empathy, sensitivity and cracking good story telling. Moves back to her house while he has to stay away, but sometimes spends his drunken nights in the shed having a nap.

One scene in particular, although the event is told only in one paragraph had a deep and lasting effect on me and it made the overall tone of the book change. The violence did not get any better despite the birth of their two children, Tabitha and Oliver, but she told no one what was happening because of fear for her now frail dad, fear of what her neighbours would say, and the fear of having to bring up her family alone. The book does slow its pace in the middle part of this book as Eve and her children try to live a new normal life but once again the book takes a dramatic turn of events towards the latter part of the book and we are thrown into despair and the adrenalin flows as everything comes to a head. As she begins to put her life back together, her fears that Don will not let her go are realised-but just how far is she prepared to go to protect her children and her newly found freedom?It’s 1999 and 28-year-old Eve is living a miserable existence with her extremely violent husband Don. We see that sometimes the people closest to us can hurt us the most and how total strangers can become the best of friends! But it’s Lesley Pearse and I will always read anything that she publishes and the beginning and end of Betrayal made up for a lacklustre middle. I really enjoyed the fact that she went from downtrodden to ambitious and I admired her for what she achieved.

But she has no money of her own, resents leaving Don in the house that had been paid for with her now late father’s money, and is so desperate that she has even contemplated the different ways she could murder him. I did find from this point on that given the dramatic first quarter of the book that things levelled out and it all became very nice and happy and things were going well and smooth sailing for Eve and the children.

I really enjoyed the story of Eve, her character is strong but sometimes too strong and she is encouraged to relax and give a little. I read it continuously and avidly, but things like getting the wrong person, changing spellings of a character’s name etc. 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.