Over by Margaret Forster

Over by Margaret Forster is a heartbreaking portrayal of how the death of a daughter causes a family to slowly implode. It is about love, grief, pain, loss and the corrosive effects of loss on human nature.

Don and Louise’s eighteen-year-old daughter Miranda had drowned in a sailing accident but her body was never recovered.  Louise tries her best to move on to some semblance of a normal life. Slowly she allows herself to feel pleasure in small things again.

Don, on the other hand, cannot come to terms with the chain of events that led to the death of Miranda, ending up spending two years on a quest to find the cause of the accident. When his family needs him most, he becomes totally distant and neglect his wife and children, prolonging their sufferings by keeping the agony alive, following many so-called “leads”, going off on wild-goose chases and generally becoming unhinged. He becomes a stranger to his family, alienating them with his obsession.

Miranda’s twin sister Molly has gone to Africa after the tragic death of her sister. Brother Finn seems to cope better than his parents but what Molly and Finn can’t handle is their family being torn apart…

Forster’s first-person narration of Louise’s emotional exhaustion and her anger at her husband Don’s response to the tragedy  is bleak and heartbreaking. It aroused my empathy to see how the tragedy has altered her, making her unable to discern her own failings.  

I find the book an uncomfortable read as it is quite bleak. But it is a nice change from the usual thrillers that I love to read. Anyway how can a book about death and grief be a happy read?