Pub Date: 28 May 2020
Published by Penguin
Deception. deceit.lies and intrigue. Human behaviour, mistrust, childhood trauma; 'I made a mistake' covers the lot. What starts as a seemingly normal story about a workaholic married mother of two engaging in a one-night stand with a childhood sweetheart, quickly turns into an engaging unputdownable family saga.
Unexplained, to begin with, the story actually spans two generations, and tells two stories, that meet in the middle, and (catastrophically ) come together a\t the end of the book, as a web of lies if unwoven and untangled. We end with a resolution of sorts but nothing will ever be the same again. Sounds intricate, doesn't it? It very much is, but, it's written so well that reading Poppy Page's life come crashing down through one 'mistake', and one us married types could easily make, is an incredibly good read. It's also surprisingly dark.
What makes this novel work so well is that fact that the protagonist Poppy, is immediately recognisable as being entirely infallible, successful, with her head above water. Underneath the water, however, it's a different story. The 'straw that broke the camel's back' is probably the best idiom I can muster, maybe sometimes it's worth breaking?
As escapism goes, we need it Now more than ever.
I'd suggest escaping into this book upon its release in May 2020.
I Made a Mistake is a new novel by the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of I LOOKED AWAY
Pre-order here
Vivalabook mark - 8/10
