Thank, as always go out to Tracy Fenton, for inviting me to join this blog tour. For the hugely enjoyable Mine by Clare Empson published by Orion books.
About the book: ‘Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?’
On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He’s an A&R man, she’s an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel.
But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.
When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice – fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago – starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won’t settle for his mother pushing him aside once again…
Our Author: Clare Empson
Clare Empson worked as a staff writer on national newspapers covering everything from collapsing merchant banks to tea with the late Barbara Cartland (everything pink including the cakes). Eight years ago, she moved to the West Country and founded the arts and lifestyle blog countrycalling .co.uk
The idyllic setting inspired her first novel, which reveals the darker side of paradise. Clare lives on the Wiltshire/Dorset border with her husband and three children.
My Review: Mine
Luke, an only child, was adopted, he’s always known he was, his parents told him when he was 8 and then took him to boarding school. There he met Ben and they became best friends. Luke never felt loved, or wanted, he always knew that there was someone else, that maybe wanted him more, but couldn’t love him. But his adopted parents never told him anything about his adoption, so he never really knew the truth. At birth, his parents named him Charlie, now he is Luke.
Now it’s 2000, and a 28year old Luke meets Hannah, she showed him that she loved him more than anyone else could. And he loved her right back. Their love was united, unexpectedly, with the arrival of baby Samuel. His sweet precious little self sends longing though Luke that makes him wonder about his real mother and so, he starts searching for her, and along comes Alice.
Alice was at 47 amazing to look at and everything Luke could hope for, she adores Samuel and has so much in common with Hannah, as her job is arts correspondent for a national newspaper and Alice trained at The Slade, an art University in her youth and was best friends with Luke’s father the renowned and internationally known artist Richard Fields.
They begin to slowly get to know each other and eventually, they find that as they cant find a nanny to look after Samuel when Hannah has to go back to work, Alice solves the problem perfectly.
This is a real psychological thriller at its best. Told from the points of view of Luke and a younger Alice, from the 70’s when she meets Rick at Uni and Jacob a up and coming rockstar, his band The Disciples are tipped to be the next best thing. Jake becomes her and Alice become lovers – they both suffered traumatic childhoods and so their connection is deeply rooted by this. They spend a summer in Italy and dream about living there one day. Rick is her best friend and without giving too much else away, Alice does her best at continuing to hide secrets and having had so many years to hide them shes pretty good at it. The relationships between the characters are written so well, the guilt from Alice for giving up Luke as a baby, from Luke for betraying his adopted Mother – Christina and Hannah for leaving Samuel to go to work, the passion and love are clear from the outset.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mine and really hope you do too, its a thought-provoking read and one which brings many subjects matters together and deals with them individually.
To purchase Mine https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Clare-Empson/Mine/23823668
@ClareEmpson2 @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #Mine
