Home Truths, Charity Norman

HOME TRUTHS is the second novel I've been lucky enough to read by author Charity Norman that uses characters and connections to drive home an important, and devastating message. In REMEMBER ME she explored the complications of family, dementia and secrets. HOME TRUTHS is again an exploration of family and secrets, but it's also about grief, guilt and the viciousness of manipulation.

Starting out with the attempted murder trial of Yorkshire based Probation officer Livia Denby, the story commences as the jury announces it has reached a verdict. We are then immediately taken back to the events that led to this situation, when Livia's husband Scott was a teacher, their children Heidi and Noah young, normal happy kids, and Scott's disabled brother was still alive. A happy, normal family, until a series of events leads up to the death, alone and calling for help, of Scott's disabled brother. This sends Scott into a spiral of grief and guilt, leading him into the world of conspiracy theories and manipulative alternative "truthers".

As Scott searches desperately for comfort, or answers, or something, he turns further and further away from rational thought, dragging Livia and the children into the mire with him. The end result is a major threat and another potential family tragedy that puts Livia in an impossible position. 

The novel asks a lot of questions. What would you do if your child was in danger? More to the point, what would you do if their own father is a big part of the problem? Can a marriage and a family survive something like that? And the ultimate question - how do we, as a society, handle the grifters, manipulators, and particularly sick, vicious creatures, who co-opt the online sphere as a vehicle to trap, control and destroy lives. Whatever the motivation, the end result can be lifelong, as is the case in HOME TRUTHS.

Norman is a deft storyteller, ramping up the tension, stirring emotion, drawing readers into the world she's building, whilst tackling difficult subjects with care, precision and timeliness. The subject matter here is definitely timely, as is the chance for a reader to look at motivation - of those pedalling crap, and those who fall for it. It also uses precision in how it separates those that can see what's happening, from those that are caught up in it all, and there is care here in the way that all the victims are depicted - Scott, his brother, Livia, her children and their extended families and friends. Nobody gets out of this situation unchanged, although you have to wonder whether we've worked out yet how to handle the conspiracy pedallers and the grifters.