The Illustrator's Daughter
Who's in Control?
by Gideon Burrows
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Pub Date May 21 2021 | Archive Date Jun 19 2022
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Description
What is any parent’s greatest fear?
“From the award winning author of Portico, comes a novel that will challenge everything you thought you knew about your relationships.”
Loving parents. A brand new baby girl. They should have been an ideal young family.
It doesn’t always turn out that way.
Matt Carron is desperate not to lose his perfect wife, but he can’t hide his jealousy when his daughter is born.
As Minnie becomes a toddler, he’s driven crazy by her tantrums. When she gets a jigsaw wrong. When she won’t listen or won't eat.
When he has to pin her to the ground so hard she bruises her arms.
When Minnie becomes seriously ill, the family embarks on a desperate mission to understand the condition and its treatment.
But the couple have very different ideas about what will work, driving a gap between them so severe it could mean life or death for their daughter.
Can Matt finally comes to terms with the unbearable choice he's been avoiding for twelve years?
His daughter or his wife?
The Illustrator’s Daughter is a heart-wrenching novel about the deep challenges all of our relationships face, living with the decisions we make, and choosing between unbearable futures.
Advance Praise
In a beautiful way it explores the story of a family which is facing some very hard times and helps ask difficult questions about how we would react under similar circumstances. / I finished this book and then went to give my children a big kiss and hug.
“A brilliant book. Having several people in my life impacted by cancer the book really captured the feelings of watching someone impacted by cancer and the lengths we'd go to help them. Couldn't put it down.”
“This book took my breath away. Absolutely couldn't put it down. Beautifully written, it explores some hugely emotional issues with honesty and grace.”
“An excellent read that explores human emotions both good and not so good when stressed by life . Heartbreaking.”
“Superbly written, engaging, would thoroughly recommend.”
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781838261863 |
| PRICE | $5.49 (USD) |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Jannelies S, Reviewer
What attracted me in this book was the title and the fact that I read other books by this author (Locked In and Future Shop) that show he has a very distinctive voice and original ideas. I was a bit reluctant to read it because of the theme but I was glad I did. The story of Matt, Karren and Minnie is heart wrenching, even for someone without children like me. Gideon Burrows knows perfectly well how to grab the readers’ attention and keep it throughout the story. This book has multiple layers and gives you something to think about.
Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for this review copy.
Janine H, Reviewer
Now THIS is what you call a page turner!
I honestly don't think I have read a book that has made me feel every emotion going and feel them so strongly.
I questioned whether it was because I am a Mum.. the answer was 'yes 100%'. Only a parent would truly get the emotions that I am trying to explain that this book evokes.. that raw animal instinct of protecting your child at all costs.... even it is is from the other parent or even yourself!
If you were to ask any parent what their worst fear was, I guarantee 100% would say their child dying. Now imagine being told your child is terminally ill but at the same time not being on the same path of reasoning as your partner.
The attention to detail within this storyline is sublime, everything flows so seamlessly and its evident the amount of research that has gone into it.
One thing I loved was that this wasn't a story about a hero with a perfect happy ending, there were no perfect characters that you cheered for from the very start. I LOATHED the father Matt from the beginning but by the time it hit over halfway you start wanting to support him *NO SPOILERS*
The storyline covers and touches on many subjects that can be hard to read at times but they are brilliantly written and used in the perfect context. Postnatal depression/post partum depression, child abuse, medical negligence, coercive abuse .. it's all there with bells on.
Basically tops from the POV of Matt, the father, this is his story and his experience of life from when his daughter arrives until the end.
Heartwrenching, unputdownable, and so unbelievably heartbreaking.
This is now the second book I have read by this author, the first being Locked In (review to come) and what an amazing talent he has, I've already added a whole load of his others to my TBR pile!
Huge thanks to netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC.
Barbara T, Reviewer
I guess most parents can somehow relate to this father who's got his difficulties with his daughter, especially when the mother is falling deep into depression and when the daughter is growing up to be a gothic teen. But things get harder when Minnie gets a cancer diagnosis. What would you do to save your child? What does such a diagnosis do to the marriage of the parents?
I like that the whole book is written as if it were a letter to his daughter.
Carol G, Reviewer
Oh my gosh, I don't know how to review this. It's totally different but extremely well-written and I was fully engaged by the story. Matt Carron is the main caregiver for his daughter Minnie so you would expect them to have a closer bond. Not necessarily. Parts of the book are hard to read and some occurrences made me seethe at Matt's treatment of Minnie. His wife Karren appears to know exactly how to appease and/or manipulate Matt. It was very sad to read about the family's experiences with the NHS and I really hope it's not indicative of the system in reality. Many layers and many themes explored and I switched allegiances many times. It's not a book I'd recommend to everyone but if you have the mental fortitude you won't regret it.
It's a rather long book (close to 500 pages I think) and the chapters are longer than I normally like but I read it pretty quickly. Towards the end, the last 30% or so, there seemed to be quite a few editing errors that should've been caught before now but that's just a minor distraction. Maybe I just didn't notice them in the beginning.
My thanks to BooksGoSocial via Netgalley for the opportunity to read a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
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