When Harri faints (again) the morning of her (second attempt at) wedding her fiance and love of her life, James, he leaves her because he can't deal. Then Harri's parents reluctantly drop a bomb of a family secret tragedy on Harri and her twin brother, George: they're not her parents and George isn't her twin brother. When George's twin sister died at birth, Harri was 'adopted' six weeks later. By 'adopted', I mean, Harri's parents basically subbed in the younger baby girl for their own baby girl and, no, pretty sure this was not on the up and up, but there were circumstances. And because that's not enough of a tragedy by itself: Instead Harri is actually the daughter of a teenage girl who died giving birth alone in the woods of Wicklow.
As a result of this bombshell both Harri and George withdraw from their parents, spiral out, and try to heal and adjust to their new normal. In addition to the devestation wrought by their parents' lifetime of lies, they are both terrified that the truth has inextricably altered and/or broken their own sibling relationship. In addition Harri must cope with the fact that everything she's known, down to her identity, has been a lie as well as the breakup of her relationship with her fiance. Now Harri embarks upon a journey to get to know the late mother she never knew as well as the father she never knew she had. This story is very much about the breaking points each of these people have and whether or not they can move on from that point. Can they heal themselves and their relationships? Or will they remain broken?
I have some thoughts and a list of eejits:
Meanwhile, Harri's friend, Susan's marriage is in shambles because her husband is a selfish, cruel eejit. And her other friend, Melissa's husband Gerry isn't much better (okay, he isn't cruel, but he is still an infuriating eejit) because he takes her for granted and refuses to pull his weight raising their kids despite the fact that both Melissa and Gerry work full time in demanding careers.
Father Ryan (Harri and George's uncle) is also an eejit. He talks Olivia's mother into taking her abusive husband (and Olivia's stepfather) back because Catholics cannot divorce even if your husband is a drunk, wife beating, child rapist. There I said it, and I could say more, but I won't. Other than: It. Is. So. Wrong.
And I am still mad at Harri's parents. They lied to her for thirty years because they couldn't face the truth. They weren't kids when they made these decisions; they were adults which means they should have known better--especially the father because he was a cop! Harri's commitment issues are clearly tied to her childhood issues that obviously stem from her adoption--something that she has always intuited even as a young child. And they are still reluctant to tell her even though her life is falling apart because of their lies.
--Reviewed by Ms. Angie
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