The Mother's Mistake by Ruth Heald
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Read: 2nd June 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(release date: 11th June 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
I honestly don't know where to begin with this review, the book blew me away that much. In a word - WOW!
As a reader, I was torn in so many directions with it I didn't know how to feel. As a domestic violence survivor, I was ripped apart and felt a myriad of emotions for the "unnamed narrator" in her narrative. As I am not a mother, I cannot relate to the complete and utter helplessness Claire felt. I can only imagine. In a nutshell, THE MOTHER'S MISTAKE is brilliant!
So where DO I begin?
Claire and her husband Matt make the move from busy London to a village outside Oxford with their two month old daughter Olivia to be nearer Matt's parents. His mother has offered them the use of her mother's cottage, rent-free, while they save for their own house. It seems the ideal solution particularly as Matt is busy setting up his new vet practice. Overall, Claire seems to have the perfect life. Perfect husband, beautiful baby daughter and a new start to their lives.
But Claire has a secret. Something from her past that has haunted her for three years. It almost destroyed her once before, and as it comes back to haunt her once again, will it succeed in destroying her this time?
It isn't long before Claire's life starts to spiral out of control and becomes a living nightmare. Strange things begin happening, she feels she is being watched and she finds things being displaced around the house. Is she being paranoid or is someone really after her? Maybe she is just overtired and imagining things. After all, she is hardly getting any sleep while Matt snores endlessly every night with earplugs in, oblivious to her fears and Olivia's constant screams. It's no wonder she is exhausted.
Of course, it doesn't help that Matt's mum is constantly interfering - walking into their home uninvited, declaring "it is MY house, Claire" or always inviting Matt's ex-girlfriend around. Nor is Matt helping by not standing up to his mother and supporting his wife. In fact, he spends most of the time at the surgery with his new employee, ex-girlfriend Sarah (at the suggestion of Matt's mother, of course), while Claire is left at home alone all day with a screaming Olivia who just refuses to settle.
When new-mum Emma befriends her, Claire finally feels she has someone who can understand her struggles as a new mother. But Emma makes motherhood look so easy that it only serves to make Claire feel even more inferior as a mother. Being a new mum is hard and while she is finding it hard to bond with Olivia she sometimes feel she doesn't love her as she should. Maybe this is what she deserves...for what she did three years ago. Thank goodness she has Emma to confide in. Her only friend in this small and isolated village. She should have Matt, but he's too busy with his new practice...and Sarah.
Soon Claire begins to doubt Matt's fidelity. Why IS he spending all those hours so late into the night at the practice? Why is he not home with his wife, whom he knows is struggling? He saw what she went through three years before and how it nearly killed her, so why is he so dismissive of her and spending all God's waking hours at the surgery with his ex-girlfriend when he clearly knows she is not coping? When he knows what she went through? Her depression, her alcoholism, her guilt and now her obvious struggles with being a new mum? What is wrong with the man? No matter how much she tries to talk herself out of the obvious, she soon doubts even how well she knows the man she married.
Since moving to the village, Claire feels her life is just slipping through her fingers. She begins to question her own sanity as she discovers items being displaced around the house...or did she move them herself and not remember? She starts forgetting things, hearing things, imagining things. Matt's worried and makes her promise to see a doctor who then diagnoses her with post natal depression. Well, that much was obvious even to me but I was surprised the doctor did little to follow up. And Matt? Well, if he was so worried about his wife then why was he not at home more, supporting her, taking some of the pressure off her? There were times I could throttle that man as I was reading. And then to so openly declare, in front of everyone, that she was paranoid and imagining things...well, my heart just ached for Claire. I could really feel her isolation. No one cared. No one understood her pain. No one, but Emma.
I had to admit, I began to suspect a bit of gaslighting was going on because I doubted very much that Claire was as paranoid as everyone was suggesting. Even when the note was put through the letterbox claiming that she didn't deserve Olivia. To be a mother. Someone WAS out to get her. But who? Claire can only think of one person - Ruth. Or is it Sarah? Because she wants Matt back? Problem is, Claire really did believe she didn't deserve Olivia. and that she was a horrible mother. And despite Matt declaring otherwise, he did little to reassure her that she was.
There is a second POV in this book, in which the narrator is unknown. But one thing is clear. She is a victim of a violent domestic abuse at the hands of her vicious husband whilst trying to protect her little girl at the same time. Throughout the entire story, this unknown woman's narrative runs alongside Claire's as we watch both stories unfold with shocking and devastating results...for both. In a way, you won't see coming!
THE MOTHER'S MISTAKE is a brutal, shocking yet compelling read you will not be able to put down. It will have you questioning Claire's sanity, your sanity, wondering what was truth and what was happening. You won't know who or what to believe. And when the truth is revealed, you will feel a division of loyalties.
With so much happening, so many red herrings, false flags and dead ends, the suspect list just kept changing. I did work out the WHO but not the WHY and when the reason becomes clear - as it did for me just before it unfolded - I was blown away!
Not many books leave me with such an impression as this one did...in such a way that I pity the next one I open for fear it will simply fall into the shadow of this one. Not many books leave me feeling the next one could never compare. But this one did.
THE MOTHER'S MISTAKE is such a brilliant addictive read that really will keep you guessing till the end. I highly recommend it.
I would like to thank #RuthHeald, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheMothersMistake in exchange for an honest review.
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