special

Strikingly bright characters. Such a well-designed image of moods, places and feelings. Maggie Cardinal’s father dies very suddenly, leaving her alone, not very upset, since he never showed special love for her. She is „strange”, „misunderstood” a captive in a world in which others fit in, but she does not.

In this dense novel, the house in which the Darke family exists apparently has its own impassive but claustrophobic influence on the family, which, in turn, tied itself up too quickly in its network of special hate agreements and connections. Jasper fights against his religion, Ruby is trapped between her need for conventions and her own desires, and Peter is forced to rebel.

Avery Denys, the novels heroine, lost her husband and her blind daughter. But in response to these tragic events, Avery simply reflects that she was „left with nothing to do”, and finds a job that allows her to act out the mother role she now misses. A rock to her female friends, Avery is rational yet caring, but also submissive in the face of her eventual second husband’s violence towards her and...