Sometimes the only way through darkness is to return to where it began.Marianne Stokes fled England at seventeen, spiraling into the manic depression that would become her shadow. She left behind secrets, memories, and tragedy: one teen dead, and her first love, Gabriel, badly injured. Three decades later she’s finally found peace in the North Carolina recording studio she runs with her husband, … with her husband, Darius, and her almost-daughter, Jade…until another fatality propels her back across the ocean to confront the long-buried past.
In her picturesque childhood village, the first person she meets is the last person she wants to see again: Gabriel. Now the village vicar, he takes her in without question, and ripples of what if reverberate through both their hearts. As Marianne’s mind unravels, Jade and Darius track her down. Tempers clash when everyone tries to help, but only by finding the courage to face her illness can Marianne heal herself and her offbeat family.
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Powerful story of one women’s journey with a bipolar disorder. It is that but so much more, Marianne shares all , it is a beautiful, horrific, happy, sad, and so much more …I have no words except to say read it for read it for yourself.
Claypole White knows what mental illness looks like and writes it so well. The reader is able to identify and understand because of how she portrays what her characters go through. Marianne is perfectly written of how someone with her illness would behave when in crisis. This book touched my soul and left me feeling for Marianne as well as her surrounding characters in her world. The setting is perfectly displayed as our lovely Brit author also resides in NC, just as Marianne does. Tragic, yet real, and with a twist that I didn’t see coming revealed in the end, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m grateful to be able to read such wonderful writing, but also to know this author in person, a gem and lovely person!
I devour all of Barbara’s books; this was no exception. She does an excellent job of bringing awareness to mental illnesses through her characters. This particular book deals with bioplar; how difficult it is for the main character and also for those who love and care for her. I loved the characters; especially Gabrielle and Jade. The majority of the book is set in an English village; lovely talk of tea and scones and chocolate biscuits! Secrets of the past come into play with a surprise towards the end. A must read; especially if you love someone with a mental illness.
Favorite Quotes:
If she’d passed him on the street, he would have been a stranger, this man who had once been her co-conspirator, her conscience when she didn’t have one, her best friend, her childhood sweetheart, her first love. The guy who represented childish pranks and first gropes. The person who had every reason, plus a few extra, to hate her.
It seemed he was stuck in a repeating pattern of dysfunction, dating and marrying crazy like a repeat offender who’d never heard of three strikes.
Gorging on chocolate might not have been the best idea, but when you didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and didn’t do drugs, how else could you get a quick fix?
At the risk of sounding like a trailer for a B-list horror movie, it takes a village to keep you safe when you have demons gnawing at your brain. So please, if you know people battling mental illness don’t judge them when they fail, which they will do. Help them get back up, as Gabriel and my family have done for me… EmJ and I have both failed. But we are not failures.
Take it from an expert: you’re never truly lost if someone cares enough to come find you. Lost is waiting to be found.
My Review:
Echoes Of Family was a difficult read, about a difficult woman, who was difficult to like. Large sections of the book kept me taut with tension, yet like coming upon an accident scene, I couldn’t stop or look away. Mental illness is generally cruel and nondiscriminatory, and so was the heroine of this story. Marrianne was bipolar, a condition also known as manic-depression. She was prone to extremes – stubborn, impulsive, selfish, immature, messy, loud, high maintenance, and demanding, and when off her medication – even more so and add in violent, and cruel. The narrative was written in third person and prone to torrents of emotion that squeezed my heart. The writing was meticulously detailed with each scene complete with all manner of tiny and observant touches, which became rather disquieting and disturbing during Marianne’s manic phases. This was my first experience in reading this author’s thoughtful and masterful word-craft, and despite the periods of discomfort, she can count me as a new follower.