‘Davis is a phenomenal writer whose ability to create well-rounded characters … felt effortless.’ Compulsion ReadsLife can change in a split second. And nothing you can do will stop it.Fourth Edition, 384 pages when in paperback.As Streatham, South London, still reels from the 1980s’ riots in neighbouring Brixton, Graham Jones finds fatherhood a frightening place. How can he protect his family in … frightening place. How can he protect his family in a world where the pace of change is accelerating? He has more fear than faith in the future.
One afternoon, his fears are realised, but not in a way he could have anticipated. A wall collapses, burying his thirteen-year-old daughter, Judy. When rescuers dig out the crushed body in school uniform, her mother, Elaine, believes her daughter is dead.
However, Judy is a survivor. Against all medical predictions, she pulls through and even learns to walk again. The accident leaves scars, both physical and psychological, but the repercussions on her family have only just begun.
Elaine’s gratitude lies with the medical profession. Graham believes the power of prayer saved his daughter’s life, leading the headline-hungry press to label her The Miracle Girl. Divergent beliefs add tension to their marriage on top of the strain of caring for their only child. And things are about to get worse.
Judy claims to be seeing visions. Are these apparitions delusion, deception or divine? As their story is exposed to public speculation, Elaine’s claim on her daughter seems to be diminishing. She demands a medical explanation for the inexplicable and seeks solace in the physical.
Refusing to be drawn into her parents’ emotional tug-of-war, Judy is adamant. She must tread her own path, wherever it takes her.
With the trademark elegance of style and profound thoughtfulness one expects from this author, this intense and emotionally-charged portrait of a family deep in crisis will make you reflect on belief, faith and the enduring power of love.
Praise for These Fragile Things:
‘Ultimately relationships, albeit in extraordinary circumstances, are central to this book.’ Goodreads
‘An elegant and understated prose style with a very satisfying rhythm. This is really very good writing indeed.’ Debi Alper
‘Leaves one panting to read more.’ Jill Foulston
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I’ve been a Jane Davis fan ever since I read “Smash all the Windows” and I intend to read all of her books. So far each lives up to the high standard I came to expect after reading just one of her books.
Davis has a brilliant talent for placing her characters in unusual circumstances that show us the vast array of human emotion and reactions to life and the intricacies of friendship and love.
I will not rest until I have read all of her work. PS She has a wonderful way with words and a laugh out loud sense of humor in her FB posts.
BLURB
As a London suburb reels from riots in neighbouring Brixton, Graham Jones finds fatherhood a frightening place. How can he protect his family from the onslaught of change? But the future holds more fear than he can possibly imagine. One afternoon, a wall collapses, burying his thirteen-year-old daughter Judy underneath it. Rescuers who recover her shattered body from the rubble are amazed. “She’s alive,” her shaking mother Elaine is told. “And we’ll do everything we can to keep her that way.” With Judy’s life hanging in the balance, Graham’s anxieties seem trivial. The unimaginable has happened. Who can he turn to? While his wife puts her trust in medics, Graham’s answer is prayer.
When Judy not only pulls through, but defies all medical predictions, the press publish headlines about ‘The Miracle Girl’. Elaine knows this is a tough label for any teenager to live up to, let alone one who’s batting physical and psychological scars. She has always understood that love is all we can cling to in this whirling confusion of a world. Now, under siege from the press, pushed to breaking point by an onslaught of miracle seekers, she seeks solace in the arms of strangers.
Meanwhile, refusing to be drawn into her parents’ emotional tug-of-war, Judy treads her own path. But we all of us live on a knife edge. And things are about to get far, far worse.
With the trademark elegance and profound thoughtfulness one expects from this award-winning author, this emotionally-charged novel will make you reflect on belief, faith and the enduring power of love.
http://www.darlenejonesauthor.com
If one reads a lot, book after book (as I do), you sometimes get a sense of repeated themes, story arcs, and plot points that begin to run together in ways that make it hard to discern what’s outstanding or noteworthy from the book before. Then a story jumps out at you with a raw burst of originality and thought-provocation that goes deeper than most, leaving you thinking and pondering the issues and plot lines unfolding in front of you. That would be These Fragile Things.
Written with tremendous skill and thoughtfulness, the story follows events surrounding a family impacted by their only child’s massive injury in a wall collapse. The myriad twists of fate that seem to follow this horrific happenstance not only turn each of their lives upside down, but take interesting narrative detours. What seems to be heading in the direction of a “triumph over adversity” tale morphs into explorations of faith, religion, miracles, belief; the anguish of both physical and psychic pain, the loneliness of an altered existence that seems out of one’s control, and the unfolding impact of all these events on everyone involved.
As young Judy Jones attempts to find as normal a life as her injuries will allow, both her parents, Graham and Elaine, smack hard into their own very disparate reactions: him, to religion, converting to Catholicism in fulfillment of a hospital-made promise; her, to reckless flouting of fidelity and commitment. But when Judy, ultimately ensconced in a Catholic school, becomes convinced she’s having visions of the Blessed Mother, visions that become a form of viral religious zealotry amongst the countless people and media that begin to hound and surround their lives, everything crescendos into a powerful, unexpected conclusion that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat… not something one expects in a story of this nature!
Jane Davis has a beautiful way with words and a deeply engaging narrative style that keeps you involved and anticipatory. I so appreciated her taking on a story that shines new, contemporary light on spiritual concepts—miracles, visions, visitations—we’ve read about and explored over the centuries, and I very much look forward to reading her other work.