Book Stop Corner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A mother's love is the strongest energy known to man.

Bethan Roberts, an English author, has penned an incredibly intriguing tale about the power of a mother's love, in her book, Mother Island. This is a story that evokes the power, capacity and the strength of a mother's love for her own flesh and blood. A young woman's irrevocable love and obsession for her brother turns her into a psychologically traumatized woman, who then embarks on a darker path in order to restore her love for her brother as well as her life all those years ago, which fell apart!


Synopsis:
Maggie, a. k. a, Gee-Gee, is in her early thirties, working her time as a full-time nanny, an Oxford drop-out, who is still in the process to find her soul. Nula, the glamorous cousin to Maggie, is a mother of a 2year old son, Samuel, who works in the media industry. These two characters come across each other's paths long back when they were in their teens. Back then, Maggie used to live with her parents and her 2yers older brother, Joe, in a secluded island in Wales, named, Anglesey. When Nula came to stay with her family, Maggie's innocent and happy life fell apart and her dreams got shattered. When she grew up, she never have been able to let go of her past since she was constantly trying to make right of her past mistakes. Thus Samuel, a little, chubby, cute and sweet 2year old boy, has to face the wrath of Maggie's past grievances, thus uprooting him from his home and detaching him from his mother and taking him into her un-forgiven past.


I was so surprised to see how Nula understood where Maggie has taken her son; she reacts almost within a fleet second, thus jumping into a journey with the hope of finding her son. I loved author's approach of trying to depict the positive-ness of both Nula and Maggie's sides. Most of the time, I found myself hating Nula and then again falling for her and most of the times, hating Maggie for her deeds. Well, I don't think so that the author has in any way tried to depict Maggie as a troubled child, moreover, her heart is as pure as driven snow. But losing her parents, then her brother's attention, and finally losing her role-model's heart's desire, made her all very lonely, quiet and solitary. Her troubled past ultimately became her enemy thus turning her into a criminal. Whereas, Nula, the smart, clever and very sly and chic and posh girl has been depicted as a girl, who can trick people into her lair very easily, and some way she was too responsible for Maggie's path to destruction. In the beginning while reading the book, I felt confused most of the times when the author switched from present scene to the flashback of the characters. Thus a bit more attention is expected from the reader's side, while reading the book. The characters were all very flawed but are sure to going to create an impression on your heart. The flow of the narration was quite smooth and somehow quite captivating. Most of the times, I found myself, along with Maggie, standing by the bay of Anglesey, that's how strikingly, the author has crafted her whole tale, that it keeps you gripped to its very core of the book.

Verdict: How far can you push a mother's heart for her own son? And how you must let go of your slivered past, in order to forgive and live in the present and appreciate life? Read this tale of a mother's love for her son and of a calm and composed woman's journey to make things right.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Bethan Roberts and her publisher from Random House UK, for providing me with a copy of her book, in return for an honest and unbiased review.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author Info:
Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and grew up in nearby Abingdon. Her first novel 'The Pools' was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Award. Her second novel 'The Good Plain Cook', published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out’s books of the year. Her third novel 'My Policeman' is published by Chatto and Windus in February 2012. She also writes short stories (in 2006 she was awarded the Olive Cook short story prize by the Society of Authors) and has had a play broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Bethan has worked as a television documentary researcher, writer and assistant producer, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family.
Visit her here  

Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US 
• Amazon India 

View all my reviews