Amazon:
One winter’s afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Connie is bold and alluring, a successful writer whose novel is being turned into a major Hollywood film. Elise follows Connie to LA, a city of strange dreams and swimming pools and late-night gatherings of glamorous people. But whilst Connie thrives on the heat and electricity of this new world where everyone is reaching for the stars and no one is telling the truth, Elise finds herself floundering. When she overhears a conversation at a party that turns everything on its head, Elise makes an impulsive decision that will change her life forever.
Three decades later, Rose Simmons is seeking answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was a baby. Having learned that the last person to see her was Constance Holden, a reclusive novelist who withdrew from public life at the peak of her fame, Rose is drawn to the door of Connie’s imposing house in search of a confession . . .
From the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse, The Confession is a luminous, powerful and deeply moving novel about secrets and storytelling, motherhood and friendship, and how we lose and find ourselves.
My reading experience:
Firstly I would like to thanks the author, Netgalley and Picador for my free ARC.
Jessie Burton presents us with what seems like an ordinary unique meeting of two people who are attracted to each other, possibly looking for an adventure or love. As a reader I thought I had the measure of this story and felt mildly disappointed. … And then the rollercoaster took its first plunge on this mysterious, fascinating and enchanting story of a lost girl.
This is a compelling and charming tale of a chance meeting that changes the life of Elise Morceau and sets her on a path of a very different life to the one she believed she had. Having embarked on an unlikely relationship with a best selling author she finds herself transported to a life she feels awkward and uncomfortable in. It is the decision she makes here that sends ripples into her future that a woman named Rose Simmons has to come to terms with.
Themes: mystery, love, relationships, motherhood, loneliness, glamour, intrigue
The structure of this story keeps the reader in anticipation with the descriptive and guiding prose we have already come to expect from this author. I thoroughly enjoyed the compelling glimpses into the past as a way of Rose getting to the truth. The honesty in this book is its integrity. I highly recommend this book by Jessie Burton. This is a must read.
I also recommend The Miniaturist published in 3 July 2014 by Picador.
Appletree Books 