"Die stille Kammer" by Jenny Blackhurst was
originally written in English (title: "How I Lost You", which has nothing in common with what the German publisher made of it - "Die stille Kammer" means "The Silent Chamber"), but the copy I was lent was translated
into German. It was good enough to convey the story, but not exactly
brilliant (the translation, I mean).
The heroine is a young woman
who has just been released from a forensic psychiatric unit, where she
spent a four-year-sentence for having murdered her 3 month old baby in a
fit of postnatal depression. Upon her release,
she is given a new identity and moves to a place where nobody knows
her. She still has no memory whatsoever of the terrible act she was told
of having committed, and when strange things start heppening and clues
appear pointing to the possibility of her son
being alive, she jumps at the chance of solving the mystery that
surrounds her own recent past.
She gets help in the shape of
her best friend, a fellow inmate from the psychiatric ward, and a
journalist. In the course of events, many people she thought she can
rely on are revealed as not being what they seemed.
Chapters jump back and forth between the heroine's present and events that occured 20 years
ago. The connection between the two threads of the plot remains unclear
until about two thirds into the book, and the actual
solution of the mystery is not easy to guess, although the answer to
the Big Question - did she kill her baby or not - is rather
foreseeable.
Altogether, it was not a
waste of time, but certainly not a "must read", either. Some of the
things the (main) characters do and say are hardly plausible, but that's
probably just me; a glance at the book's reviews on
Amazon shows that most readers loved it.
This is the author's first
published novel. It is highly unlikely that she will become a favourite
of mine, but she'll probably improve with practise.
More about Jenny Blackhurst can be found here.
It sounds like an interesting story, I didn't know this book or author.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting enough, Francesca, and I really did want to find out what happened, but as I said, it's not a "must read".
Delete"She'll probably improve with practice"...I know you mean that but it made me giggle!
ReplyDeleteWe all do, don't we? Improve with practice, I mean :-)
DeleteAlthough I think it all plays out quite differently, I am surprised at this plot because the last mystery I read was about a mother who is being told that she killed her child. But it is not true.This book is A Mortal Curiosity by Ann Granger, the second in her Lizzie Martin series. It's set in the mid-800s and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think most of her books have been translated into German, but of course that is not necessary for you! This plot is not a common one and if I can find a copy of How I lost you I will read it. But my library doesn't have it.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I meant the mid-1800s!
DeleteI am sure I have read a few Ann Granger books myself; the name sounds very familiar but I can't find any reviews on my blog, so maybe I am mixing her up with someone else. The one you mention sounds like a book I'd enjoy.
DeleteMaybe Jenny Blackhurst has read it, too, and was inspired to transport the story into our time.