A day late and a dollar short, because yesterday it was actually my turn to kick off the BlogTour for this brilliant book, The Lost Thumb. My apologies to Orla Owen!
Orla Owen is a writer, online editor, and author of the novel The Lost Thumb. She's been writing since she was a child, and in 2016 was picked to be mentored by Sarah Savitt at Virago.
Her writing focuses on the dark and macabre side of family life, the parts that go on behind closed doors.
Before she became a writer, she was an actress and drama practitioner, studying Theatre at Bretton Hall College of the Arts. She has performed at the Royal Court and Edinburgh fringe, as well as working on The Women's Theatre Workshop mentoring scheme.
Supporting women in writing is important to her, and she was lucky enough to work on a writers' mentoring scheme, as an assistant to the author Kerry Hudson, at the WoMentoring Project. She is currently working on her second novel, PAH, which will be released in early 2020.
Follow @orlaowenwriting on Twitter, on Instagram, on Goodreads, on Amazon,Visit orlaowen.com
Lara and Luella Jeffreys lead isolated lives until the night they are left alone for the first time, and Luella decides to have some fun. That evening goes horribly wrong. After Luella wakes up in hospital, she’s kept prisoner at home with her mother acting as her warden. Lara is sent to school to keep up the pretence that she is fine, her sister is fine, and the world is fine. Except they aren’t. The local storekeeper, sensing that something’s wrong, pushes her son to befriend Lara but the results of her meddling are deadly...
Don't expect fluffy unicorns and candy floss moments. This starts with a slap in the face continues with a dark vibe and ends with a vicious cycle. Needless to say I enjoyed it immensely. Nothing quite like a bit of darkness now and again.
One of things everyone should take away from this read is that if you have a gut feeling about a child being mistreated or abused then don't just ignore your instincts. Don't push the thought aside and think it's okay, you're mistaken or someone else will deal with it. The truth is a large number of children suffer longer than they need to, because people look the other way.
If only someone were brave enough to help Lara and Luella, who are both victims of a brutal and abusive mother. Their lives are ruled by her painfully oppressive and claustrophobic rules. Constant physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis.
When Luella breaks all of the rules and ends up in hospital it is the beginning of a downwards spiral for the small family. Lara struggles to finally find her voice to defend herself and more importantly her twin sister.
So, what's it all got to do with thumbs and how do you lose one? Well, the thumbs are a pivotal part of the story. They are part of the abuse, part of the bond of being the same, and part of understanding how one is more important than the other. They represent loss, and being invisible and broken in a crowd of curious onlookers. The type who will turn their back when the truth is uncomfortable.
It's literary fiction, a dark and intense story of incredible depth. Owen's second novel is a prequel to this story, which is probably why the end of this one slides slightly away from the consistent tone and voice of the piece. It deserves to be a standalone and to end on the same note it begins with. Either way I look forward to reading more by this author.
Buy The Lost Thumb at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Lavender Publishing; pub date 27 Feb. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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