An Unthinkable Thing | CBC Books - Action News
Home WebMail Thursday, November 14, 2024, 12:57 PM | Calgary | 7.1°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
BooksCanadian

An Unthinkable Thing

A book by Nicole Lundrigan.

Nicole Lundrigan

Tommie Ware's life is turned upside down the summer of 1958, just after his eleventh birthday.When his beloved auntthe woman who raised him doesn't return after her shift as a night nurse and is later found murdered, there is only one place left for Tommie to go: "home" to the mother who handed him over the day he was born.

All is not as it seems behind the hedgerow surrounding the lavish Henneberry estate where Tommie's mother, Esther, works as live-in housekeeper. Her employers have agreed he can stay until she "sorts things out," but asat the family's beck and call around the clock, Tommie is mostly left on his own to navigate the grounds, the massive house, and the twisted family inside.

Soon he is enmeshed in the oppressive attentions of matriarch Muriel, who is often heavily medicated, and of fifteen-year-old Martin, who treats Tommie sometimes like a kid brother, sometimes like a pawn in a confusing game. While Dr. Henneberry mostly ignores Tommie, he also seems eager for him to be gone. Then there's the elderly neighbour, who may know more about the family's past than anyone else will say.

By summer's end, the secrets and games tighten around Tommie and his mother, until a horrific crime is discovered and we are faced with an unthinkable question: could an eleven-year-old boy really have committed cold-blooded murder? (From Viking)

Nicole Lundrigan is the author of eight novels including The Substitute, The Widow Tree and Glass Boys. Her book Hideaway, was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award. Lundrigan lives in Toronto.

Other books by Nicole Lundrigan

Add some good to your morning and evening.

Sign up for our newsletter. Well send you book recommendations, CanLit news, the best author interviews on CBC and more.

...

The next issue of CBC Books newsletter will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in theSubscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.