Dancing in the Dark by Maureen LeeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 1 day
Pages - 448
Publisher - Orion books
Source -
Blurb from Goodreads
A brilliantly compelling Liverpool saga following the lives of two women - three generations apart.
Millie Cameron is not at all pleased when she finds herself obliged to sort through the belongings of her aunt Flo, who has recently died. She hardly knew her aunt and besides, she has her own career to think about. But when she arrives at Flo's basement flat, Millie's interest is awakened.
As she sorts through her aunt's collection of photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings she finds herself embarking on a journey - a journey to a past which includes a lost lover and a secret child.
Picking through the tangled web of Flo's life, Millie makes the startling discovery that all the threads lead to herself...
My Review
First thing to say guys is the book features domestic abuse & violence towards children, not overly graphic as some books. The opening chapter is from the wean's point of view as they know what is coming, whilst it isn't gratuitous or depth of details, Lee writes the character's fear & words so authentically it is just worth an fyi. It reverts back to and has lasting reach as the children are adults, one being the main character and it has shaped how she is as an adult, her issues with relationships and letting anyone get close. Now, from nowhere she finds out her estranged auntie has died and she has to go and sort her house and belongings. What starts off as a reluctant chore soon becomes life changing for Millie. We flip from present with Millie to the past with Flo and learn about her life, mixed in and happening during war time.
Whilst the characters are overly loveable and warming, Millie does go through quite the journey of personal growth and finding herself by learning about her aunt. There are some very shady decisions/behaviours/relationships throughout and my God I wanted to slap a few people. The book deals with some dark topics and unsavoury, infidelity, domestic abuse, manipulation, unwed mother and what can happen (this was actually really sad) and how choices of the past can last throughout your whole life. It is hard to give too much heads up as we don't do spoilers and we would be venturing into that if we go further.
I liked Flo, she had a bit of a unique way of thinking especially when she decides what she can do to help the war! I liked her though, she got taken advantage of, people who should have been there for her weren't and she got done dirty more than once, I would have liked to have hugged her, poor soul.
It is a book centred heavily on family, family dynamics, relationships, secrets, lies cause and effect to name but a few. This is my second read by Lee and I have I think six more on the tbrm, if you want to leave you life for a little while and get caught up in la scandalosa of others this is for you, 4/5.
