The Other Child
by Lucy Atkins
The Other Child is a compelling read. A seemingly regular family drama to begin with but there’s an underlying tension throughout that doesn’t let up. It builds with intensity as the story progresses and I really needed to find out why Greg was really being how he was being. Yes, he has a high-pressure job and yes, he didn’t really want to have a baby, but it’s obvious that there is something else going on and I would never have guessed what in a million years.
My heart went out to Tess. Moving out to the states to support him and his new job, taking her away from all she knows as well as uprooting her son, Joe. Finding herself quite alone dealing with a new pregnancy and Joe’s problems at school. That’s enough for anyone to deal with, with a mostly absent husband. However, other unsettling things are happening, and I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of it all.
A great read which demanded my undivided attention.
Sometimes a lie feels kinder than the truth . . . but what happens when that lie becomes an avalanche of deceit?
When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high-profile paediatric surgeon, she sees something complex in him that she instantly connects with. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess – already a single mother to nine-year-old Joe – finds out she’s pregnant.
Greg, who never wanted to be a father, is then offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston, USA. Within just a few months, they have married and moved to the States.
But life in an affluent Boston suburb is not as straightforward as Tess had hoped. Strange things keep happening in their rented home – Joe is unsettled, the next-door neighbours are clearly troubled, and Greg’s work is all-consuming. As a fierce Boston winter closes in, and her baby’s birth looms, Tess remains determined to make this new life work.
Then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . .
