Beneath the Skin by Caroline England
The Blurb
No-one remembers your past. But you do.
‘Antonia, Antonia. My name is Antonia.’
It’s been her name for many years. But sometimes, like tonight, she forgets.
Antonia has a secret. A secret so dark and so deep that she can barely admit it to herself. Instead, she treats herself to Friday night sessions of self-harm while her husband David is at the pub, and her best friend Sophie is drinking too much wine a few doors down.
Nobody close to her knows the truth about what the teenage Antonia saw all those years ago. No-one, that is, except her mother. But Candy is in a care home now, her mind too addled to remember the truth. Antonia is safe. Isn’t she?
The lies start small. They always do. But when the tightly woven story you’ve told yourself begins to unravel, the truth threatens to come to the surface. And then what’s going to happen.
About Caroline England
Born
Sheffield, The United Kingdom
Website
https://www.facebook.com/CazEngland1/
CazEngland
Born Yorkshire lass, Caroline studied Law at the University of Manchester and stayed over the border. Caroline became a partner in a Solicitors' practice and started writing when she deserted the law to bring up her three lovely daughters. In addition to the publication of her short story collection, Watching Horsepats Feed the Roses by ACHUKAbooks, Caroline has had short stories and poems published in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. Her debut novel, Beneath the Skin, was published by Avon HarperCollins on 5 October 2017. My Husband's Lies will be published by Avon HarperCollins on 3 May 2018
My review
Caroline England knows a thing or two about people. She played her characters well against each other. Secrets and lies, and add to that assumptions. Yes she also played me as the reader, because I, like many people, make assumptions about people, even if I think I know them. Take a look at a desirable residential area, good looking couples with beautiful children, successful careers or business ventures. Luxury holidays and cars. My assumption is they've got it all. The perfect life by default. No, no, no! I can't say that if I don't know them. Caroline England enables us to know them in a deep significant way... Beneath the Skin (as it says on the tin). Four couples who have known each other most of their lives, have secrets and lies. Slowly this bubble is expanding and is about to burst. I savoured every page of this gripping tale. I Whispersynced it too so I could listen to it in the car, and the narrator's voice stayed with me in my head as I quietly read it at home. Debut novels do not come better than this.
