Book Review / The Treacle Well by Moira Forsyth

Caroline and Daniel are twins whose mother died when they were babies. 

They grow up in a conventional family, their aunt and uncle raising them along with their own little girls, but they are truly close only to each other. 

Then, their father remarrying, they’re separated for the first time and sent to boarding school. A serious accident when they become medical students seems to end without damage to either, but soon after Daniel and Caroline cut themselves off from the rest of the family, causing first bewilderment, then hurt and anger. 

Underneath the stable family life their grandparents worked so hard to establish, run currents of insecurity and restlessness, and a secret only one person is able to uncover. 

The novel explores belonging and not belonging, guilt and atonement.

Published:     21st May 2015
Publisher:  Sandstone Press
Author Website:  Click here
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy Received

What I loved about this book...
What I loved the most about this book was the family dynamic, how each character interacted with the other, whether they liked or hated or even were indifferent.  Similarly, there were characters that I liked and ones that I really didn't like.  One particular character that I didn't like very much was Diana who was their father's new wife, Daniel and Caroline's stepmother.  Even though she knew she was getting into a family with children and even had one of her own she was completely uninterested in them, very self-involved.  Another character was actually one of the main characters Caroline, I just could not seem to get on her side because of her attitude.  But even though I disliked one or two characters, it added to the  family dynamic in this story and set out a realistic feel of what families are, rather than just being happy and merry all the time.   

What I also thought was very interesting was the fact that this story spans decades rather than a matter of months or days.  I had never come across this type of story and really enjoyed it.  It gave me a great sense of history with this family as I followed them through the years.

What I was not fond of with this book... 
What I was not fond of with this book was the level of attention to detail that I didn't feel was necessary in the story and just got in the way.  Honestly speaking, if there was a little bit less description about every day matters this story would definately have been more of a 4 star or 4.5 star read for me.

Moira Forsyth is the author of four novels, and of short stories and poetry published in a range of magazines and anthologies. 

She lives in Muir of Ord, in the Highlands of Scotland.