A Mother’s Lie (Mercer)-BoT-Women’s Fiction-Available Now

(Formerly titled Safe From Harm)

I am finding it hard to define this book.

It’s classified as Women’s Fiction and has the ubiquitous “emotional page-turner” tag line. There was certainly a lot of emotion in it.

But there were also family secrets and a hint of mystery as well. I guess you could say that it’s a well-rounded book.

As I mentioned in a recent review of another book, there have been a lot of female characters who run away from their problems to live in a small cottage on the coast. Ali is no exception. More on her in a minute.

I found myself thinking about how healing the sea can actually be for some people. Is it the waves and tides going in and out that allow people to imagine their problems being swept out with them? Is it the isolation that allows for introspection and the ability to take a deeper look at an issue?

Is it just those negative ions that make our brains happier?

I don’t know, but it’s a popular location.

In Ali’s case, we know that she is pregnant, and her husband has said some things that have caused her to escape to her grandmother’s cottage on the coast. There she meets neighbors Meg and Michael (and baby Jem) who seem like the perfect family.

Emphasis on seem.

In fact, nothing is as it seems in this book. Ali has secrets that she doesn’t share with Meg, even as their friendship grows. Meg keeps secrets from Ali – it’s quite apparent that there are some hidden issues, the extent of which only fully come to light late in the story.

As Ali comes to grips with her pregnancy (also late revelations about this), she does a lot of thinking. And I mean a lot.

I hate to admit it, but I was gripped by her musings. I was fascinated with how she pieced things together in her mind to justify her actions, and how her perception was clouded by what she actually wanted to be true.

Interspersed here and there are flashback chapters with Ali’s grandmother, Violet. I found the parallels between her and Ali to be interesting as well. Violet’s self-imposed exile made sense in the larger context.

Her interactions with Meg also showed that you never know when someone is going to touch a chord in you, allowing you to forgive yourself and move forward. I liked that message. A lot.

The aforementioned late revelations didn’t all work for me, especially in relation to Meg and Michael. They felt too convenient. A blast from Ali’s past also seemed manipulative and didn’t seem to fit the story. Maybe I just missed the point of that one.

What I really liked, however, was how Ali came to her conclusions about her husband’s attitude and realized what was really important. Sometimes it’s hardest to forgive, but only after we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes can we truly understand their point of view.

Because of the way Jon is written, I spent most of the book not understanding him and thinking he was a cad. It was amazing how the author got me to switch that opinion with a few simple words. Well done on that.

This is certainly an emotional book, and there may be some issues that other readers find difficult to manage. Not having any relatable experiences, I was able to read it and really take in the characters. I definitely recommend this book.

Author Bio: Leah Mercer was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. Her first ambition was to be a journalist, but after completing a master’s in journalism, she soon realised she preferred anything other than reporting the news. After trying her hand at public relations, teaching and recruitment in various countries around the world, she finally settled in London and returned to writing… fiction, this time. Her first two novels, Who We Were Before and The Man I Thought You Were, were shortlisted at the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards. Leah loves books, running and visiting historic houses with her husband and their son.