Mothernight by Sarah Stovell

The cover drew me in, and then Sarah Stovell’s compelling debut novel took hold of me.

It is a tale told in three narrative voices.

When she was a small child Leila lost her mother in a car accident. She just had her father. But then her father remarried. His new wife had a baby of her own. A baby who would be found dead in his cradle one morning.

Leila was sent away to boarding school. Her father visited but years passed without Leila ever going home.

She is brilliantly clever and wonderfully accomplished. But she is aloof. And alone.

Oliva is a new girl at Leila’s school. It is decided that she should share a room with Leila, and the two girls  form an intense relationship. They talk about everything. Except Leila’s past – that remains a secret.

And then the time comes for the girls to leave school. Olivia’s parents work abroad and so James, Leila’s father, arranges for both girls to spend the summer before they go to university at his family’s home in the country.

Kathryn, Leila’s stepmother, is not happy. She had two daughters now, but the loss of her son has left her bitter and damaged. How could it not?

Three narrative voices: Leila, Olivia and Kathryn.

The pressure builds over a long, hot summer. And finally the truth about what happened all those years ago is revealed. With devastating consequences.

Those three voices bring the story to life with such clarity and intelligence. The characters are beautifully drawn and, though they are not always sympathetic, they are utterly believable. Every scene is set perfectly: the terms closed in at boarding school and the summer opened out in the country.

Every action, every emotion is so real. And that is what makes this book so absorbing, and so haunting.

Yes, ever detail is right, and the story unfolds at just the right pace. The information comes drip by drip. And though you know that the ending cannot be happy, that some wrongs can never be righted, that some damage can never be repaired, it is impossible to look away.

Mothernight is an accomplished debut novel – and I look forward to seeing what it’s author does next.