We were Sisters by Wendy Clarke
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 17th August 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(release date: 8th August 2019)
★★★ 3.5 stars
Despite not having read Wendy Clarke before, I was excited to bury myself into WE WERE SISTERS as it sounded positively enthralling! And it was...until the end.
We begin with Kelly walking her twin daughters to school for their first day, an anxious time for every parent, but for Kelly it is even moreso. Suffering from severe OCD and anxiety, Kelly finds herself counting cars, steps and everything in between to ensure her girls have the perfect first day as they walk with baby Noah in his pram. Isabella, a gregarious and outgoing girl, is jumping with excitement and exuberance at the new adventure whereas twin Sophie, quiet and withdrawn, is hanging tightly onto her mum in tears and is terrified the prospect.
Upon arriving at the school, there is the usual confusion and hubbub with finding the right class and introductions with the teacher and trying to prise Sophie from her, that when she walks back out of classroom Kelly finds that Noah's pram is not where she left it. Flying into sudden panic, Kelly searches frantically with teacher Mrs Allen's help, finding baby Noah happily gurgling in his pram at the door to the next classroom. Maybe Kelly went to the wrong classroom is the given explanation but Kelly is not so sure. Even more so when she reaches in to comfort her baby, she finds a locket beneath him. It's not her locket but an identical one...belonging to her sister Freya, who was wearing this very locket the day she died when she was a teenager.
Despite having a wonderful relationship with her husband Mitch, Kelly feels she cannot share her fears or concerns with him for fear that he may think she was delusional. Instead she tries to focus on Noah and enjoying time with him while helping the girls adjust to school.
But then things start to become rather sinister. Noah's pram and the locket was only the beginning of more terrifying things to come for Kelly that she can't explain. Symbols drawn in the condensation on the window; waking to find the back door wide open; things being moved or appearing from nowhere; newspapers not ordered are delivered with her horoscope or Freya's circled. It all begins to get too much as she starts losing time whilst Noah lays screaming and she stares into nothingness. And then there are the nightmares. Of the Gemini tree in the woods near where Kelly grew up; of finding Freya hanging from that tree.
When she tries telling Mitch, as predicted, he thinks she is imagining things. She hasn't been herself lately and the pressure with three month old Noah is making her delusional. That's what he thinks anyway. But Kelly knows different. And no amount of counting is helping to ease her anxiety.
Parallel to the present day, we have Kelly's story from her childhood to unravel, which is not a happy tale at all. As an only child, her mother takes in foster children in an effort to find "the perfect child" that will make her husband happy. A dysfunctional concept, to say the least.
On her 8th birthday, Kelly wishes for a sister which comes true just moments after blowing out her candles with the arrival of the strange and elusive Freya. Kelly's mother busily fusses over the new arrival whilst simultaneously dismissing her daughter and ordering her around. Her parents are fostering the 10 year old but Kelly still refers to Freya as her sister for which her mother continually admonishes her. But ever since her arrival, Freya has remained silent refusing to utter a word. But Kelly doesn't let that dissuade her. She is just happy to have a sister at last and hopes that this one stays. However, Kelly's childhood is not a happy one and is somewhat dysfunctional...so it was no surprise that things were inevitably going to go wrong.
Then when tragedy strikes, Kelly's life falls apart. For her, it is so unspeakable that she moved away and now keeps that chapter of her life firmly closed. Not even Mitch knows the story...but we are privy to her memories as we watch both stories unfold.
Told in the past and present from Kelly's perspective, we discover that both Kelly and Freya hold a minefield of secrets between them. The mystery surrounding their past is intriguing and as the story unfolds their secrets gradually come to light, sending shockwaves throughout the tale.
I found myself becoming impatient with Kelly almost from the start. Actually, from the second page. Her constant counting drove me mad. I don't know how someone with OCD really copes with their condition as to an outsider it really is frustrating. And I guess I found Kelly frustrating throughout much of the story and yet I also empathised with her. She was an unreliable narrator which added to the mystery surrounding her and Freya, as well as her parents. It left you wondering what really happened and was Kelly really seeing it all for what it was? Or was she just imagining things? I switched between liking and disliking her throughout, she was that frustrating. But I can tell you, from the beginning, I did not like or trust Freya. AT ALL. Everyone else just sort of blended into the story, as well as being mostly unlikable. In fact, I'm not sure I like anyone particularly in this story.
A tense and complex plot that showed promise, WE WERE SISTERS is thoroughly engaging throughout but I was disappointed to find it fell a little flat by the end. I felt there had been so much tension, so much build-up, so many questions that by the time I reached the end it was all a little anti-climatic. I was like, really? That's it? The ending really didn't do the rest of the story justice, in my opinion, because the rest of it was so sinister and atmospheric it was really an enjoyable read. I guess I felt a tad cheated at the end. As someone else described it, the ending was kind of more "Oh" rather than "OHHHHHHHH!!!"
I did guess some of the reveals and with others I was way off but as always it never ruins the story for me. I just enjoy the ride. But in this case, as shocking or as heartbreaking as some of the reveals were, the end result - in my opinion - just didn't live up to the rest of the story. But don't let that deter you. WE WERE SISTERS is an intriguing and engaging story which I did enjoy for the most part.
I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #WeWereSisters in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment