BOOK CLUB: Truths I Never Told You

By Kelly Rimmer
Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia

The Year is 1996 and Beth is struggling.  Everything in her life seems to be so difficult.  Her father has been diagnosed with dementia and she, along with her 3 siblings, are watching him slowly slip away from them.  At the same time Beth is trying her best to cope with a new baby who just seems to want to cry constantly and her own fears that she is failing as a mother.  As her fathers health declines the decision is made that he can no longer live on his own and he must move into a care home. 

This leaves the worry of what to do with the family home that they have all grown up in since their Mother was killed in a car accident when they were small children.  Do they keep the home and rent it out or do they sell it?  Either way, they must make sure they have the funds to cover the costs of the care home and the house must be packed up and cleaned out.  Beth extends her parental leave from work and arranges with her Mother-in-law to care for her son Noah while she gets started on packing up the house.

She discovers that oddly the door to the attic has had a lock placed on it and hunt as she might a key can not be found.  Beth enlists the help of her sister Ruth who sends a couple of workers over to remove the door.  Once they have access to the Attic they are in shock to see that the room is full of rubbish, painting canvases, dirty dishes, etc.  Its a mess and they are stunned to think their Dad had been hoarding rubbish in there, and they had no idea how long he’d been doing it. 

As Beth tackles clearing out the attic she stumbles upon handwritten notes on yellow paper.  These notes she works out were written by her Mother and they show that she had struggled with a deep depression. Beth uncovers more notes and fears that perhaps the story of the car accident was not 100% true.  The notes start to indicate that perhaps her mother had taken steps to end her own life. 

Beth’s memories of her mother are of a loving, warm, and caring woman. The man that her mother talks about in the letters doesn’t sound like the dad they love, who battled on his own to be the rock the four children needed.  As more and more notes are discovered more and more of the story unfolds, but still there are unanswered questions.

Author, Kelly Rimmer will grab you by the heart and make you feel each persons side.  She has a way of making you understand and care for each and every person without blame or judgement.  You get it, you feel for them, and you really do see that there are always two sides to every story.  This is a story that feels like it was written with a lot of love and care. 

Postnatal depression is something we all should be more aware of, and we all need to learn not to shun those battling with mental illness.  It’s real and it’s a place that any of us could slide into.  We need to be more open in discussing these issues.

An awesome read that will have you wanting more and more of Kelly Rimmer and her wonderful way of writing.

A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer. You can read their reviews in the comments below, or add your own!

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