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The Glass Girl
All families have secrets, mostly untold, and the Bishop family is no exception The Telling, set in Australia and in the north of England, and spanning 30 years, reveals infidelity, abuse, and betrayal and explores the lives of two sisters, Alexis and the younger Ruth.. The sisters grow up in a home where life is lived through the church, where sex is never mentioned and sins must be paid for. Their father, Robert, is remote and evangelical and their mother, Harriet, a bookish depressive, herself betrayed by her husband. Harriet tries and fails, with terrible consequences, to love Alexis and to protect her daughters. Ruth adores her mother and blames herself for Harriet's occasional disappearances to - in Alexis' words - 'the loony bin'. The Telling is Ruth’s story, written in the first person and begins in 1975 with Ruth’s rape, aged 16. ‘Say thank you to your sister for me’ are the unknown rapist’s words. Unable to hurt her mother Ruth leaves, telling no-one in the family, for Australia to stay with her best friend's aunt. Her daughter is adopted and Ruth takes refuge in a remote pub in the Australian desert. Seven years later Ruth is coming to terms with her past: the loss of her daughter, Clare, her mother’s death and her sister’s malevolent impact on her life. Is she tough enough?
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