I wasn't so sure about this book, it is one of those books you want to read but dread reading. This was the first book by this author I have read. It did not disappoint. While difficult to read (because of the subject matter) the author draws you in and keeps you there. The fact that the same thing can happen to 3 different people and they all react and handle is differently--it's amazing. Definitely recommend this book.

Just how can siblings be abused in this way and each go down a different path in life?
But it happens right.

Family.

You can have a houseful of children in a family with one or two parents with “problems” and each child will digest it’s environment differently and that leads them to a path.
Which path they chose is up to them.

This author has done a fabulous job giving us an insightful view of human nature at its worse, and, at its best.

I was that enthralled I read this in a day.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

This was a great book! Awful and twisted but loved the ending! I will definitely recommend this book to others!

Dear Mother (previously published as The MIddle Child) is written by Angela Marson before her move to Crime Fiction and the wonderful Kim Stone series. This is a heartbreaking and emotional story about abuse and family.

I'm currently catching up on some of my older books, that for one reason or another seem to have gotten lost on my kindle.

I have to admit i read this book purely because of who the author was, I didn't know what to expect and I went in with my mind open to anything.
I knew I wouldn't be disappointed.
An amazing story of 3 sisters and their lives growing up. After the death of their mother, the estranged sisters have a chance to rebuild their relationships with each other.
Alex, Catherine and Beth. 3 totally different women have a chance to put the past behind them and bond as sisters once more. Sometimes things can't be forgotten and things that happened in childhood can rule your life as an adult.
Forced to face the truths of their upbringing, this story is an emotional read. It covers the subject of family abuse brilliantly. It's superbly written. It left me feeling like i'd really been on and emotions journey with these women.
I'm a huge fan of this author and this book show's just how good a writer she is. It's beautifully written. Please be warned you may need a box of tissues. Once started this is a very difficult book to put down.

This has been on my kindle a few years and I must confess to have completely forgotten about it. I’m a massive fan of the DI Kim Stone series also by Ms.Marsons. This book however was a total different genre. It tells the story of 3 sisters who were both physically and mentally abused by their mother as they were growing up. After the mother dies they try to bond again and we learn how they have each been affected by their childhood. A sad book but very well written with good solid characters.

I am a massive Kim Stone fan but I'm afraid this novel was not for me. Don't get me wrong they are well written and I'm positive that if this is your genre you would enjoy them but they are not to my taste. I will stick to Ms Marson's crime.
.

Trying to clear my shelfs and although I haven't read it yet it's one I'm definitely hoping to read in the future

Having read a few of Angela Marsons crime stories in the Detective Kim Stone series, I was very keen to read one of her first attempts at non-crime fiction, 'Dear Mother.' Previously released under a different title, 'Dear Mother' proved to be a very real, and therefore necessarily distressing, book on the negative effects of child abuse taken on into adulthood.
Catherine, Alex and Beth are three sisters, survivors of an abusive mother, now living their adult lives as strangers. Catherine is married and has two children of her own; Alex lives alone and drowns her memories in alcohol, a habit that is rapidly spinning out of control; and Beth is left behind to care for her ageing and ailing mother.
Brought together suddenly by the death of their mother, the sisters are forced to reconnect and re-evaluate their lives and their relationships, to uncover explanations of past actions and somehow find closure on a past that they would all like to forget.
I did very much enjoy this book. Occasionally a little simplistic in plot, the development and progression of the story is very believable, if a little condensed for practicality.

Also available on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com, but taking time to upload to the sites.

I really enjoyed the book, it has everything I love in a novel from start to finish. I can’t wait to read what the author has planned next!

The story enveloped in this book is heart wrenching and not an easy read. It follows three sisters lives whilst telling their individual childhood memories. All three are very different personalities and adults.
At times I wanted to stop reading to avoid feelings triggering within myself but felt I needed to continue reading. I am so glad I did.
Well written and interesting. Describes the consequences of bad parenting.

Thank you netgalley the Author and Publisher for a chance to read this book

I have read all of Angela Marsons books and love her style of writing I thought I'd give this one a go. It was difficult to read about the abuse the sisters got when they were younger but heartwarming to read they all came together in the end. It was a shame to read Beth took her own life towards the end which brought a tear to my eye as to what Catherine and Alex felt. It was pleasing to read they had a last christmas together but this was Beth's intentions. It's not something I'd normally read about but I love Angela's writing and made me want to read on, I had to finish it. She did the book justice and wrote about the ordeal with thought and affection. I did enjoy this book although the topic was hard to read, she did it very well. Thank you for letting me read and review this book.

I've been hearing about Angela Marsons frequently via reviews written by my fellow bookbloggers so I thought it was high time I gave her novels a try. The author is renown for her psychological crime thrillers and I assumed this was one of those when I requested the novel from NetGalley - solely on the basis of her reputation. Low and behold this is NOT a thriller, but I thoroughly enjoyed it just the same. Perhaps I shouldn't say enjoyed. The subject matter was so dire and disturbing that to say I enjoyed it would make me sound rather sadistic.

This is a well rendered, acutely observed portrayal of the lingering consequences on three sisters of a childhood filled with both physical and emotional abuse. The book begins when the perpetrator of the abuse dies, bringing the three estranged sisters together after many years of little or no contact.

Catherine, the eldest sister, is married to a man she dearly loves and is the mother to twin daughters. She has a time-consuming, high-pressure career. The abuse she and her sisters experienced growing up has marred her psyche indelibly. She never really bonded with her little daughters and is afraid that she doesn't know how to love them. She is riddled with guilt for abandoning her sisters when she left home. Her childhood memories impact every aspect of her life. When her life implodes, she seeks psychiatric therapy.

Alex, the youngest daughter is an alcoholic whose life is spiraling out of control. Her first thought when she heard of her mother's death?

"Thank God the bitch is dead"

Alex believes herself to be unworthy of affection so she sabotaged her relationship with the love of her life. Now she lives alone. She hits 'rock bottom' when her drinking results in the loss of her job and all of her friends. She alienates those she loves with her brazen bitterness.

Beth, the middle daughter, has stayed in the home with the mother right up until the mother's death. Beth never married, or, it would seem, even had any relationships. Her memories are completely repressed. She seems completely in denial as to the trauma inflicted upon her in her childhood. She was the most physically damaged as a result of the abuse, yet she stayed to nurse her mother after her mother's stroke.

The 'mother' in this novel is incredibly evil. One wonders what HER childhood was like. The three sisters are reunited after their mother's death. The reunion sparks change in all of their lives. The book explores the far-reaching damage that can be inflicted by parents upon their children. It is very difficult to read at times, but the realistic ending will leave the reader feeling satisfied.

I guess I'd categorize this book as women's fiction, but it somehow seems more... yet it is not of literary fiction caliber.

I'd like to give the author's crime thrillers a try as well because I enjoyed her writing style.