The Torn Up Marriage by Caroline Roberts
Published: 5th March 2015
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Pages: 299
Available on Kindle
Blurb
Why do we hurt the ones we love, and can there ever be a way back?“The Torn Up Marriage” is about betrayal, complacency, love and loss, and that key instinct to protect your family. But what happens when you tear that family apart? Kate and Michael are about to find out as they cope with the crushing fallout of his affair, whilst trying to protect their two young children. This powerful and poignant novel captures the explosiveness of everyday life and what it is to be human; to make mistakes.
Set in the historic town of Alnwick, Northumberland, with its stunning backdrop of castles, moorland hills and coastline, this relationship story of love and family takes you in a rollercoaster ride of emotions along with Kate and Michael.
Michael’s mother’s battle with breast cancer shatters them all, yet shows them how precious life, love and family is. Can they find a way back and fight for their battered yet enduring love?
So, what would you do if it happened to you? Could you betray? Could you forgive?
Review
The Torn Up Marriage is the tale of a marriage break up following an affair and how the two sides deal with the fallout from the betrayal. It details all the stages you would expect to go through after a break up including telling the parents, friends, getting back out in the world socially and the eventually meeting of the new partner.
The book starts with Kate making dinner and everything
seeming normal but as the paragraphs unfolded you could actually feel her
tension as she waits to confront her husband Michael about having an affair. I
was totally gripped by this first chapter, it is exactly how I would imagine
that scene playing out in real life and the build-up of tension as Kate wonders
exactly how to start that awful conversation is just brilliant, I could
actually feel my heart racing and was wondering what exactly Michael would do.
As Michael admits that yes he is having an affair and
eventually packs his bags to move in with his mistress, you can feel Kate’s
world crumble around her as her marriage is ripped apart. The story goes on to
detail how both Kate and Michael deal with the break-up. Kate with her anger,
loss and humiliation and the difficulty of trying to keep an everyday normal
routine going for her two young girls when all she wants to do is drown her
sorrows in a glass of wine. Michael with his guilt of ripping his family apart,
watching the confusion in his daughter’s eyes’ as they think daddy’s left
because he doesn’t love them anymore.
This is a book which deals with everyday emotions when life
gets hard, it doesn’t sugar coat them either, some of these scenes are ugly,
especially watching Kate turn to the alcohol more and more. They way this book
was written sometimes had my stomach in knots with a feeling that something
really bad would happen.
The thing I liked most about this book was the way the
children were written about. Charlotte and Emily were such lovely innocent
little girls that ended being so confused about what was going on and it
wrenched at my heart to see them sad. This was very realistic to me and I’m
glad it wasn’t glossed over.
The Torn Up Marriage is a book which had me emotionally
involved right from the start and I really felt I was right there experiencing
all the emotions myself. If you want a book that will really make you question
what you would do in a similar situation this is it. Would you stay or go? Would
you ever forgive? Would you be tempted in the first place?
I thought this book was brilliantly written and the emotions
were spot on, cannot wait to read more from this author. I would give this book 5/5, simply for the
pure emotion it conveys.
Thank you to Harper Impulse for sending me an arc copy to
read.
