Style: October 07, 2022
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<strong>Style</strong> | Read 55<br />
PICCADILLY PICKS<br />
Detachment Theory<br />
Richard Woolley<br />
Author House, $35<br />
Joy is married to Stephen Manley,<br />
the eldest of three brothers raised<br />
in wealthy surrounds in England,<br />
with all three educated at the<br />
private Brokebadderly Boarding<br />
School. Joy and Stephen live in<br />
Auckland, she a journalist and he<br />
a university professor. They are<br />
happily married and enjoying their careers.<br />
Stephen does not seek any contact with his family,<br />
whereas Joy, by contrast, has, and still enjoys strong bonds<br />
in a part-Māori family. Could this difference be attributed to<br />
their respective upbringing childhoods and education?<br />
Anonymous and threatening messages on Twitter cause<br />
Joy to realise that there might be much more to Stephen’s<br />
past and the isolation from family he has in New Zealand.<br />
She convinces him to travel to Britain by cruise ship but she<br />
arrives alone, still determined to find out what happened to<br />
the boys at Brokebadderly Boarding School.<br />
Richard Woolley has written what I think is a brilliant novel<br />
and one that invites the reader to explore the many and<br />
lasting consequences of family tragedy. The story unfolds<br />
unpredictably as Joy dares to uncover the awful events<br />
and extracts the truth. I agree that it is “an intricate and<br />
compelling psychological thriller”.<br />
- Neville Templeton<br />
A Mother’s Heart<br />
Carmel Harrington<br />
HarperCollins, $35<br />
This novel is a lovely story about<br />
family, based both in Ireland and<br />
New Zealand.<br />
Rachel, a New Zealander, marries<br />
Lorcan from Ireland and becomes<br />
stepmum to Lorcan’s children,<br />
Olivia and Dylan, who have already<br />
lost their birth mother. Sadly,<br />
Lorcan also passes away.<br />
The reader is then taken on Rachel’s journey as she makes<br />
a new life for her stepchildren in Ireland and tries to keep the<br />
family ties with all of the grandparents.<br />
Rachel learns to live without the Lorcan, the love of her<br />
life, and begins to cope living in Ireland while missing her own<br />
family in Hawke’s Bay. Her experience shows us how families<br />
grieve, adjust to new relationships and how love grows to<br />
take in new situations.<br />
It is uplifting as it shows us not just a mother’s devotion<br />
and care but also the importance of the children’s<br />
grandparents and step-grandparent’s love. We can all learn<br />
from this story, how we can all work together supporting and<br />
loving one another.<br />
Author Carmel Harrington has been twice shortlisted for<br />
the Irish Book Awards.<br />
- Robyn Joplin<br />
WIN<br />
READ A GOOD BOOK LATELY?<br />
Send us 50-75 words on why you recommend it, with the title and your first and last name for publication,<br />
to josie@alliedpressmagazines.co.nz and you could win a $25 voucher to spend at Piccadilly Bookshop.<br />
we love books<br />
www.piccadillybooks.co.nz<br />
Shop 1, Avonhead Mall Corner of Merrin Street & Withells Road, Avonhead | P. 358 4835
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