Betrayal

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In this book, we see just how strong and resilient women can be even when things literally "beat" us down! We see that sometimes the people closest to us can hurt us the most and how total strangers can become the best of friends! Betrayal follows the story of Eve, a mother doing everything she can to keep herself and her children alive while in an abusive marriage. The story then follows Eve and her children over the years after breaking free but it looks as if the past is always lurking around the corner waiting for the truth to come out and justice to be done. Despite the drifting plotline and a crammed conclusion of events, this is classic Lesley Pearse through and through. Betrayal is a great read, if a tough one. I was a bit wary of reading this one as the previous few books I’ve read by Lesley Pearse I must admit to struggling with. However as I’ve loved all her other books I really wanted to give this one a chance and I’m really glad I did.

The main character, Eve, is well played and her teenage children are very involved in all that happens to her but then towards the end her daughter does something that for me was totally out of character and changed the whole direction of the book, I just couldn’t buy into her reaction and stance at all Eve is a battered wife who lives in constant fear of her violent husband Don. She eventually finds the courage to leave him, taking their two children, Olly and Tabitha, with her. In due course she gains the legal right to return to the marital home with her kids. Don now lives elsewhere with his new girlfriend. However, Eve hasn't seen the last of him. He keeps retuning to his garden shed in the dead of night to sleep off a drunken stupor. Eve finally snaps and makes a terrible decision that has repercussions for everyone. This is a book that reels you in from the first chapter, throwing the reader straight into the heart of the abuse and the sense of danger and urgency flowing through those first few chapters. The book does slow its pace in the middle part of this book as Eve and her children try to live a new normal life but once again the book takes a dramatic turn of events towards the latter part of the book and we are thrown into despair and the adrenalin flows as everything comes to a head. Eve Hathaway has no option but to leave her violent husband but as with all bullies Don Hathaway refuses to admit that he has a problem and can't let Eve and his children have the peaceful life they crave. Setting up a new life for herself and her children isn't easy for Eve but with sheer grit and determination she takes them out of poverty and into a more settled existence except that Eve is burdened by a dreadful secret which overshadows her future happiness. When Tabby says "mummy" in the rape scene, it is great foreshadowing for her helplessness later on.

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This book touched and covered so many tough subjects, that are relevant and happening in today's times! Another great book from Lesley Pearce. Undoubtedly a great storyteller. One is instantly caught up in Eve's story of domestic abuse and her subsequent escape with her children into her new life despite its ups and downs. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it a 5* recommendation. Eve loves her children but now she carries a terrible burden that she dares not share. Has she betrayed her and her children's futures? I can't help to admire Eve, Tabby and Ollie's transformation from beginning to end. Despite all the nastiness thrown at them, they've chosen to rise above it and make a better life for themselves. She could not do it for herself, even when they arrive at the women's refuge that a specialist solicitor has gotten them into, Eve's sense of denial is such that she finds it hard to relate her circumstances to the other women there.

This new book from popular author Lesley Pearse has all the right ingredients. Eve’s husband Don drinks, and he's violent to her. She says to herself she never should have married him. But they have a girl Tabitha (Tabby), and a boy called Oliver, the children are a joy. Don says he’ll turn over a new leaf, but he'll never change. At one point things become better…. then go bad again so that she starts to think, could she get away?Despite some flaws, I found Eve to be a strong and brave protagonist in many ways. All she wants is the best for her children, even if she's weighed down with such a burden that she can't share. This also means that's she has surpressed trust issues and can't fully commit to another romance in the future.

Eve decides to permanently move her family to Sidmouth, to finally start over and to work on the interior decorating career she has always wanted. But secrets have a way of following you and Eve soon learns that even in a quaint little fisherman's town like Sidmouth, there are still monsters lurking around every corner. And sometimes those monsters are the people you trust the most. I expected this book to be historical fiction, something I don't usually enjoy, but this book was actually set at the end of 1990s/early 2000s so make your own minds up as to if that's historical fiction (but to me it isn't). She goes to the police and gets in touch with a social worker who helps her leave London to flee to a refuge in Sidmouth. But after the divorce goes through, she can finally return to her home. Only, Don isn't capable of moving on, instead he harrases her every night until she decides to teach him a lesson - which goes very, very wrong. Eve, when we first meet her, was timid and shy but through no fault of her own as Don’s actions made her feel worthless, powerless and useless. She is naturally reserved having being brought up not to tell tales but finally she garners enough courage to go to the police and report what has been happening to her. She knows she needs to get away from Don, for her children not to grow up in a home where domestic violence is common place. Eve is to be admired for having the strength to do the right thing and soon herself and the children are placed in a women's refuge run by Marianne.

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The characters Eve, Tabby, Olly and Marianne are all interesting and multifaceted. However I found Tom a bit one-dimensional, fitting the archetypal "prince" character. There were times where I just wanted to grab Eve and run away..like to hell with this world and all its downsides! Got to say I don’t think I am the target audience for this book, generally I read a lot of what is classed ‘women’s fiction’ and love it but this for me actually did feel it was correctly labelled, a bit Mills and Boon ish in large swathes of it Lesley Pearse was brought up in South London in various orphanages from the age of three. She learned about the Soho club scene and the music business during the Sixties with the late John Pritchard. Her novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Lesley has three daughters and three grandchildren and lives in Bristol. By the next evening, mum and kids are staying in a women's refuge and major plans to ensure a happier future are in motion. Of course, this doesn't sit too well with Don. One night, Eve decides to teach her husband a lesson... And it goes horribly wrong.

But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. Eve is warned that it's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future. Also the writing style is written in a way my 15 year old self wrote fan fictions. Just so simple and boring. I liked Eve at the beginning however as time went on she became very self centred, I’d lost any warmth towards her, Turns out that one of the flings is grooming/ sleeping with her daughter, so she catches him and calls the cops. Her children and the thought of being labelled a subpar wife have kept her in marital chains for years, her wedding was a drunken event not worth recalling, Don's behaviour towards her family marking as a day to forget and not remember. It shows how insidiously the coercive control has co-opted Eve's sense of self and her world view, she would stay for the sake of shame and social propriety than leave.Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley now lives just outside Bristol. She has three daughters and two grandchildren. With Lesley Pearse's reputation for grippy, gritting stories that never shy away from the seamier side of life, I was expecting distressing themes from Betrayal. And, yes, this story pulled no punches – literally – from the very start.