Dear Mother (aka The Middle Child) by Angela Marsons

From Goodreads

The Middle Child is a story about three sisters brought together by the death of their cruel and abusive mother.

Alex, the youngest, is a bitter, unforgiving woman who refuses to face the events of her childhood. She hides in a bottle and destroys any chance of happiness that comes her way. Her life is spiralling dangerously out of control but she doesn't have the strength to stop it.

Catherine, the eldest, has strived to achieve everything her mother said she would not. She has everything she ever wanted but appears to be more like her mother than she thought. One single act brings her carefully constructed world tumbling down around her.

Beth, the middle child, suffered the worst of them all. She has no memory of the cruelty and remained with their mother until she died. But eventually the memories must return.

When they are brought together as strangers, the sisters must embark on a painful journey to the past to discover themselves and each other.

But will all of them make it back safe? 

My thoughts

I gave this an 8/10 or 4 stars. My thanks go to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I actually thought this was a new book by Angela Marsons, until I did a little digging and found that it had previously been released under the title of The Third Child.

Alex, Catherine and Beth are three sisters that have had a rather unconventional childhood. Their Mother was mentally and physically abusive to them all, unfortunately Beth was the middle child and bore the brunt of the abuse.

To tell you more about this would be to spoil the story for you. I can say that as a Mother myself of three children I find it hard to relate to parents that have been abusive to their own.

I found this quite a heart breaking read if I'm honest and my heart went out to all three children. As Adults they all found it hard to cope with the aftermath of their childhood. They all struggled to form proper relationships with others and doubted that they were capable of loving at all.

Recently, Angela Marsons has become very well known for her thrillers and this is a completely different style of book, but one that is definitely well worth reading.