Pages (Paperback): 448 pages
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Released: August 24, 2010
Description: International bestselling author Sophie Hannah creates a brilliantly sinister atmosphere in this psychologically and socially acute novel that explores the bond between mothers and their babies, the tragedies of crib death and infanticide, and the effect of incompetent pathologists.
Documentary producer Fliss Benson receives an anonymous card at work. The card has 16 numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four--numbers that mean nothing to her. On the same day, Fliss finds out she's going to be working on a documentary about miscarriages of justice involving crib-death mothers wrongly accused of murder. The documentary will focus on three women: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard, and Rachel Hind.
All three women are now free, and the doctor who did her best to send them to prison for life, child protection zealot Dr Judith Duffy, is under investigation for misconduct. For reasons she has shared with nobody, Fliss has decided that this is her last project.
And then Helen Yardley is found dead at her home, and in her pocket is a card with 16 numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four...
Review: A story about infanticide and women who were wrongly accused of killing their children is a fascinating thing to read about and for the most part it is. The news articles, interviews, book excerpts really added to the seriousness of the situation and I loved reading them. My only complaint is Fliss, and how her sections were written in first person, when almost everything else was in third.
Grade: 8 lines out of 10
Thank you to Penguin Canada for providing this book for review.
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