Title: The Measure of the Moon
Expected
publication: 18 April 2017
Synopsis (Goodreads):
“If you ever say anything to anyone, they all die.”
When eight-year-old Greer Donner falls off his horse in the Washington wilderness, he braces himself to face the long hike home alone. But screams pierce the darkness, and he stumbles upon a dead-end road where a man is beating a woman—nearly to death. In a moment of courage, he stops the assault, but he’s left to face the man, who turns his wrath into an ominous threat: if the boy ever reveals what he has seen, his family will pay the ultimate price. The secret Greer now carries begins his emotional unraveling.
In Seattle, Gillian Trett is a photographer with a troubled marriage and a childhood she’s trying to forget. Domestic tension mounts when her husband’s stepsister arrives. Desperate for a distraction, and a way to advance her career, Gillian throws herself into uncovering the history behind an old man’s Holocaust photo of boys in a forest. The mysterious children and the truth behind the scene haunt her—she can’t let go of the image, or of her own shadowed past.
Then a horrifying revelation entangles Gillian’s path with young Greer’s. The boy and the woman, separated by a generation and a hundred miles, each confront the terrible power of harbored secrets—not only to eclipse the truth but also to illuminate the dark, unknown dimensions of their loved ones and themselves.
When eight-year-old Greer Donner falls off his horse in the Washington wilderness, he braces himself to face the long hike home alone. But screams pierce the darkness, and he stumbles upon a dead-end road where a man is beating a woman—nearly to death. In a moment of courage, he stops the assault, but he’s left to face the man, who turns his wrath into an ominous threat: if the boy ever reveals what he has seen, his family will pay the ultimate price. The secret Greer now carries begins his emotional unraveling.
In Seattle, Gillian Trett is a photographer with a troubled marriage and a childhood she’s trying to forget. Domestic tension mounts when her husband’s stepsister arrives. Desperate for a distraction, and a way to advance her career, Gillian throws herself into uncovering the history behind an old man’s Holocaust photo of boys in a forest. The mysterious children and the truth behind the scene haunt her—she can’t let go of the image, or of her own shadowed past.
Then a horrifying revelation entangles Gillian’s path with young Greer’s. The boy and the woman, separated by a generation and a hundred miles, each confront the terrible power of harbored secrets—not only to eclipse the truth but also to illuminate the dark, unknown dimensions of their loved ones and themselves.
My thoughts:
8-year old Greer has everything a little boy could ever
want: loving parents, a sheltered childhood growing up in the natural beauty a
stone-throw away from the Olympic National Park, and five older siblings who
nurture and protect him. But his life changes for ever on the night he
witnesses a man assault a woman in the woods. Little Greer knows wrong when he
sees it, and he is not afraid to step in and confront the assailant. Due to his
brave intervention, the woman manages to escape, but the man’s angry last words
will ring in his ears forever: If you tell, I will kill your whole family. His
family, the people he loves most in the whole world. Greer’s lips are sealed as
he pictures images so horrible they haunt him in his sleep. With a secret so
terrible, Greer begins to unravel, and no one knows why ....
In Seattle, Gillian dreams of a different life, and feels
terrible to be so ungrateful. Doesn’t she have everything a woman could
possibly want? A loving husband, a beautiful home, enough money to be
comfortable for the rest of her life, and her job as photographer which has so
far fulfilled her. But there is a burning desire for excitement that will not
go away. When she stumbles upon an old photograph of a group of solemn-faced
children hidden in an antique camera, she is intrigued to find out more about
their background, not realising that the story she will discover will change
her life ....
The Measure of the Moon is a thought provoking, haunting
tale of the burden of childhood trauma and its effects on different people from
different family backgrounds. Greer, who has a big loving family to support
him. Gillian, whose alcoholic parents had left her and her sister Becky to fend
for themselves as children, and who both cope in different ways with the after
effects of neglect. Alex and Alice, orphans growing up in an unimaginable time
with terrible choices to make. And Liz, the mysterious woman on the run with a
young child. As their stories intersect, each one must rely on their inner strength
to make choices, right or wrong, which will shape their lives in different
ways.
The author’s background in emergency services obviously stays
her in good stead when it comes to understanding different people and their
motivations, and her characters and their backgrounds are richly drawn and
authentic. In fact, I thought I must have missed an earlier book in a series,
as the novel assumes a certain familiarity with the Greer clan that made me
feel like they have featured in other novels before, so detailed were their
individual histories. I could picture them vividly in my mind, feeling their
confusion and pain in seeing their youngest family member unravel before their
very eyes without knowing why. What greater agony could there be for a parent than
seeing their child suffer and being helpless to help? It was agony to read
about the fear locked into the boy’s heart from a threat so carelessly uttered
by a violent man. Whilst I also found Gillian an intriguing and likeable
character, I found her story to be a bit overshadowed by the many side-stories
relating to the Greer clan.
The Measure of the Moon is a slow, contemplative and
character driven drama rather than a fast-paced mystery, and I especially loved
the historical element introduced by the old photo, which I felt intriguing. At
times I longed for a bit more action as the story slowly simmered along, but
all in all I really enjoyed the journey. I look forward to reading more from
this author!
Thank you to
Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of
this novel in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment