A story of love, lies and memory.
Complete at 77,000 words.
10 Feb, 2012: Edited and revised since HC editor's review.
Charged with the fragility of family and the power of forgiveness, Daisy's story unfolds over three days of memories and misunderstandings during a visit to her mother, Ellen, who's in the early stages of dementia.
An idyllic childhood in the highlands of Scotland ends abruptly when Daisy is sent to boarding school, but that's just the beginning of her unravelling. Fall-out from her parents' disintegrating marriage spirals her into chaos and the 1970s Punk scene, but childhood memories intrude. Was her father’s death suicide, or did her mother kill her father?
Daisy keeps it all inside, but she has had enough. She marries Jake, a musician, determined to build her life from scratch, based on honesty not lies.
All goes well for twenty five years, when Jake faces a crisis of his own. Daisy reverts to old ways of coping as betrayal and family secrets are exposed, loosening the threads woven so tightly into the fabric of her life.
The story examines the bonds of friendship and the ties between mother and daughter, father and lover; it illustrates how forgiveness transcends all hurts.