Mourning Ruby By Helen Dunmore

Another story about loss (I seem to be reading a lot of them at the moment!)  Rebecca was abandoned as a baby so her past is unknown.  She is brought up by indifferent adoptive parents.   She becomes friends with Joe, a writer, and moves in with him.  They have a complex relationship, platonic, but deeper than mere friendship.  It is through Joe that she meets and marries Adam.   Shortly after their marriage she gives birth to Ruby and the three of them settle into family life.   I read on with a sense of trepidation knowing at some point Ruby was going to die.  The story is mostly narrated by Rebecca, although there are a couple of chapters where we hear the voices of Adam and Joe.  Helen Dunmore describes the loss of Ruby in a sensitive, heart-wrenching, realistic way.  After the loss of Ruby, Rebecca’s relationship with Adam falls apart and she starts a new life working for Mr Damiano, a former circus performer who runs a chain of hotels.  Rebecca learns more about Mr Damiano, who has an interesting past.  Rebecca tries to lose herself in this job, travelling the world.   It is on one of her business trips that the plane has to make an emergency landing and Rebecca thinks she sees Ruby.   She decides she needs to leave her job, realising she hasn’t dealt with the loss of her daughter at all.  The story is told in a disjointed fashion flitting from past to present.  Part two of the novel is about the story Joe is writing.  He has sent a draft to Rebecca for her to read.  I didn’t see the point of this as it only had a tenuous link to the rest of the story.  

Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty

The story opens with the news that Laura and David’s nine year old daughter, Betty, has been knocked over and killed as she made her way back from school.   We learn this on the first page.   Laura is the narrator.  The story explores the impact that Betty’s death has on Laura and those around her.   It is written in first person so immediately we get a sense of Laura’s anguish and confusion.  Her pain is palpable.   We are privy to her thoughts as she looks back to the events that led up to the tragedy.  Her relationship with David is also examined.  Another hook is introduced early on when a reference is made to an anonymous letter.  It turns out that Laura has been receiving these sinister letters for some time.  Slowly as the fog of pain starts to clear Laura learns who was responsible for the death of her child.  The reader is taken on Laura’s journey as she seeks answers and ultimately revenge.    I found it a real page turner.  Incidentally, I read Louise Doughty’s non-fiction book “A Novel in a Year,” a few years ago and it is well worth a read if you are thinking of writing a novel.  I now want to read Apple Tree Yard.