Customer Reviews

Footsteps

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This was a stunning and compelling read. Ruth and Helena, in their own ways are such strong women. Yet they are not flawless- that's what makes them so believable. You can't help but admire their courage. In a way their stories are related very closely. Both try to deal with grief, loss and the pain that love causes. As Ruth tries to be independent of all that binds her , Helena struggles with the shock of her husband's tragic death. Her attempts to discover her family's secrets, serve as a kind of healer to Helena.

Katharine McMahon writes beautifully. Past and present intertwine elegantly. Not once did I feel confused. Every character was well-defined. The description of the setting was vivid. Footsteps is a powerful and a moving book. I felt the turmoil both the women were going through.

The book was intriguing and gripping to the last page. Past has a powerful impact on the future.. As the story unfolds we understand how the past shaped so many aspects of Helena's life. It was an emotional read. Ruth signifies the emotional struggle we all face sometime or the other...the struggle to break free... All women are Ruth in some ways... Footsteps was a beautiful and touching novel.

Overall:
Haunting novel! Very well-written.

Recommended?
Yes!To all those who love literary fiction.(and to those who don't too..)

This is the third novel I've read by Katherine McMahon and while it's not my favorite I did enjoy it. I think that her later work shows a greater attention to detail and a higher level of polishing but this story was still interesting and worth reading.

Writer Helena Mayrick's husband Michael recently passed away, while grieving his death the famous photographer Nicholas Broadbent proposes a book collaboration. Broadbent's subject is photographer Hubert Donaldson, Helena's grandfather. Donaldson raised Helen's mother Joanna, but the two were estranged for many years prior to his death. Joanna has never talked about the reason for the estrangement or why her mother, Ruth, abandoned her when she was a baby. Mysteries and secrets go back generations into the family tree. In researching the book on her grandfather Helena begins to piece together events that shaped her family and discovers explanations for behavior she never understood.

McMahon writes strong female characters and I liked the protagonists she created in 'The Crimson Rooms' and 'The Alchemist's Daughter'. I didn't care for the characters she created in this novel as much. They were often cold and distant but I did like the ending of this story and the unraveling of the family mystery.

There were a few pivotal events that didn't seem to fit into the story perfectly but I knew when I picked this book up that it was one of McMahon's earlier works so I didn't expect it to be as flawless as her later work. While I sometimes struggled to feel a connection to the characters, overall I thought it was an interesting story with an emotional ending.