Before I begin, can I just say a massive congratulations to all of the team at Agora Books. Judging by the strength of their first publication under their new name, I can tell that their future is definitely rosy.
I am ending the long list of blog tours with my final tour stop of the day, a review of ‘Missing Pieces’ by Laura Pearson. Big thank you to Lucy for the blog tour invite and the ARC of the book. Here is my review:
What if the one thing that kept you together was breaking you apart?
All Linda wants to do is sleep. She won’t look at her husband. She can’t stand her daughter. And she doesn’t want to have this baby. Having this baby means moving on, and she just wants to go back to before. Before their family was torn apart, before the blame was placed.
Alienated by their own guilt and struggling to cope, the Sadler family unravels. They grow up, grow apart, never talking about their terrible secret.
That is until Linda’s daughter finds out she’s pregnant. Before she brings another Sadler into the world, Bea needs to know what happened twenty-five years ago. What did they keep from her? What happened that couldn’t be fixed?
A devastating mistake, a lifetime of consequences. How can you repair something broken if pieces are missing?
What does TWG think?
Can someone please pass me a pool ring, I think I’m drowning in my own tears! Or close enough. I was surprised that I had any moisture left in my body upon completion of ‘Missing Pieces’! Before you begin reading Laura Pearson’s novel, I highly recommend going to a cash and carry and stocking up on tissues, seeing as Kleenex didn’t get my memo on a subscription service… pfft ;).
When you hear the word, ‘loss’, what do you automatically think of? Losing your wallet? That’s a loss. Losing the remote control? Yet again, another loss. What about….losing weight? It’s a loss! However, whilst all of those are a form of loss, I am pretty certain that when a lot of you hear that word, you zoom straight into the word, ‘death’. Am I right? ‘Missing Pieces’ is a heartbreaking story about losing someone you love. Someone who will never be able to return to you. This is emotional. This is incredibly raw, and unfortunately, the loss that is described in this book is one that is a lot harder to digest. Especially if you can relate to the characters circumstances.
To help the readers understand the nitty gritty parts of ‘Missing Pieces’, Laura Pearson has written the story so that it switches between the past and the present, unearthing some pretty emotional themes throughout both timeframes.
Laura Pearson clearly has done her homework as she lays bare some very hard hitting topics throughout her novel. Whilst the theme of ‘loss’ is evident the entire way through, it is not the only theme that the author has given her characters to work with. I have to admit though, there were times where I was curled up in the foetus position, wondering when on Earth the family will catch a break. I had become so invested in each member of the Sadler family, the fine line between fact and fiction ended up being incredibly hazy.
I am flabbergasted by the strength of Laura Pearson’s words, and her ability to not only tell a story to her readers minds, she also manages to tell a story to their soul. I cannot believe that this is a debut novel, what a beautiful, beautiful tale of hurdles one family face, as well as the poignant and eye-opening aftermath that follows very precariously.
‘Missing Pieces’ is a gut-wrenching and highly emotional read and, whilst I enjoy people crying, I have to say that the tears shed with this novel are ones that need to be released in order to appreciate the beauty behind every missing piece.
The Writing Garnet 