I have very mixed emotions about this one - and at the end the feeling was tremendous sadness. Now if only I could explain why. When you put two psychologically flawed grown-ups together - in this case husband-and-wife Edward and Donna Pryor - then throw in a child who is so messed up that several times I thought about calling our daughter just to tell her how much I love her - it's a guaranteed disaster. The only question is how much more damage will be done and who will suffer the most.
Chapter switching, not only from perspectives but time frames, makes the story a little harder to follow. But it also allows for a more in-depth look at what is happening now and in the past, and the slower "reveals" kept me reading even when I had other things that needed done (just one more minute and I'll start dinner, honey - I promise).
As the story begins, Donna is living a want-for-nothing life in Shadow Garden, complete with housekeeper/personal assistant. But her surgeon husband, Edward, doesn't live there with her, nor does their grown daughter Penelope. When she tries to call Edward, he doesn't answer; she hasn't seen or heard from Penelope in ages and has no clue where she is. Each day, Donna grows more restless and fearful that something bad has happened that everyone is trying to keep from her. On top of that, she has trouble getting around - the result of a serious hip injury that she can't recall.
Frustrated and angry,m Donna decides to take the bull by the horns, figuratively speaking, to find out for herself what her husband has been hiding. Interspersed are flashback chapters that gradually reveal what really happened to all three, how Donna came to live where she does and why she thinks what she thinks. All of this leaves readers (or at least me) to wonder which of the three bears the most blame and doubt whether any of them ever stood a chance of normalcy. Suffice it to say this is not a pretty story and the ending, as mentioned earlier, inexplicably left me in tears. That said, the whole thing kept me hooked all the way through. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the pre-release copy.
Shadow Garden by Alexandra Burt (Berkley, July 2020); 368 pp.
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