Stevie‘s review of Cuckoo by Sophie Draper (published in the US as The Stranger in Our Home)
Contemporary Women’s Psychological Fiction published by Avon 29 Nov 18
I’m always pleased to pick up new mystery stories set in Derbyshire, although not all authors manage to satisfy my requirements for both a setting that feels familiar and also characters who behave like real people. My standards are set particularly high when it comes to the northern part of the Peak District. This story is set further south, towards Ashbourne, so the setting issues ought to be less of a problem, assuming the characters feel right to me.
Caro, an illustrator of children’s books, who is our protagonist and main narrator, has recently escaped an abusive relationship and is staying in a friend’s flat while she decides what to do and where to live next. Before she has time to make any firm plans, her estranged stepmother dies in a fall over the bannister in the family’s farmhouse, and Caro travels back home to Derbyshire to attend the funeral. There she meets up with her older sister for the first time since childhood, and learns from her that under the terms of their father’s will – he died when Caro was very young – the house passes from his wife to both his daughters.
At her sister’s suggestion, Caro moves into the house to sort through their stepmother’s belongings prior to the house going on the market, while her sister returns to her high-flying job in New York. Caro has a new commission, which she can complete as easily in Derbyshire as in London, and she only has a few more weeks’ grace before the lease on her friend’s flat runs out. Arriving at the house, she finds the interior to be more neglected than she would have expected from her previously fastidious stepmother, and the locals in the nearby village are distinctly hostile towards her, referring to her sister as ‘the flashy one’ and Caro as ‘the nutcase.’ Although Caro initially has no real thoughts as to why the villagers might feel that way – her childhood memories are patchy – she begins to have flashbacks, some so real as to make her think she is being haunted, relating to both her stepmother’s cruelty and to a small boy, who was obviously a companion to the girls, even though Caro doesn’t know who he is or where he came from.
Caro tries to piece together her memories, aided by one of the fairy tales from her new commission, which is very similar to a story she remembers her stepmother telling, regarding her organistrum or Pear Drum, a precious possession, which Caro was not allowed to handle. Caro is not entirely alone in her investigations. She is befriended by one local man, who encourages her to attend village events, and she is able to speak to her sister over the Internet. However, neither of them seems to be telling her the whole truth about their activities, and Caro can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching her from both outside and inside the house.
I really wanted to like this book. The snippets of fairy stories appealed, as did the bare bones of the central mystery. Too many of the details, however, relied on Caro being oblivious to falsehoods she had held to be the truth since childhood, and on her continuing to believe various people’s reasoning and motivations, even after they were shown to be duplicitous. What really spoiled things for me was the ending, which introduced a whole extra level of deceit and turned a lot of what we’d been told back around again. Sadly, that let-down means I’m going to find it hard to trust the author again.
Grade: D
Summary:
When her stepmother dies unexpectedly, Caro returns to her childhood home in Derbyshire. She hadn’t seen Elizabeth in years, but the remote farmhouse offers refuge from a bad relationship, and a chance to start again.
But going through Elizabeth’s belongings unearths memories Caro would rather stay buried. In particular, the story her stepmother would tell her, about two little girls and the terrible thing they do.
As heavy snow traps Caro in the village, where her neighbours stare and whisper, Caro is forced to question why Elizabeth hated her so much, and what she was hiding. But does she really want to uncover the truth?
Read an excerpt.
