ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Scenes from a Tragedy by Carole Hailey
Scenes from a Tragedy by Carole Hailey is published by Corvus and out now. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy.
If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you. Not right away of course, because where’s the fun in that?
When an empty passenger plane mysteriously crashes in the Lake District, journalist Carly Atherton is determined to get to the truth of what happened – the love of her life was one of the two pilots on board.
But when she contacts the family of the other pilot, the conflicting memories of his wife and his sister draw her into a story far darker than she could possibly have imagined.
As Carly delves into the dynamics of a seemingly ordinary family, she realises that the bonds that shape us can also tear us apart – and that sometimes there are monsters living among us, hiding in plain sight…
A plane flies into a mountain in the Lake District. Only two people were on board, both pilots. One was journalist Carly Atherton’s ex-boyfriend and the other was Daniel Taylor. In investigating what happened and why the plane crashed, Carly becomes embroiled in a more extensive story which she uncovers by interviewing Daniel’s sister, Izzy, and his wife, Grace.
The structure of Scenes from a Tragedy is really clever. Carly’s own notes are joined together with the two women’s stories of their relationships with Daniel and I was completely hooked on their narratives throughout the whole book. One character in particular is utterly loathsome and left me incredulous at their behaviour. Talk about a character you love to hate. I don’t think I will forget them in a hurry!
What an exceptional book this is. It’s got a mystery at the heart of it: why did the plane crash? The writing drew me right in to the worlds of Izzy, Grace and Carly and the story itself asks the nature/nurture question and explores the murky depths of the human psyche and family relationships. It’s dark, it’s gripping and it’s compulsive reading as it hurls the reader through the turmoil that leads to the tragedy of the title. Buckle up – there’s turbulence ahead. Brilliant!
Carole Hailey completed the six-month Guardian/UEA novel-writing course with Bernardine Evaristo, who imbued Carole with such a love for writing fiction that she abandoned her career in law to study first an MA, then a PHD in Creative Writing. Carole was a recipient of a Desmond Elliott Prize Residency from the National Centre for Writing and her debut novel, The Silence Project, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize. She lives in Wales with her husband and two rescue dogs.
Instagram: @carolehaileyx