The Son-in-Law (Charity Norman Reading-Group Fiction)

by Charity Norman

[Leah]

Earlier this year I read and loved Charity Norman’s second novel After the Fall. It was utterly amazing, a novel Jodi Picoult would have been proud of! So I was massively chuffed to receive an early copy of her new novel The Son in Law. She manages to use somewhat controversial topics and makes them really interesting. Things aren’t black and white in a Charity Norman novel, they’re grey, too.

The Son in Law is a very interesting novel. Joseph Scott killed his wife Zoe, leaving three children without a mother, and to be raised by their grandparents Hannah and Frederick. But all isn’t as it seems, and although Joseph did kill Zoe, and it is unequivocal, it isn’t as simple as that and so when Joseph is released after serving half his term he only has one thought in mind – to see his kids, but Hannah and Frederick would rather die than let this man see his kids ever again…

When I started The Son in Law I was convinced I knew whose side I was on – Hannah and Frederick’s. After all, Joseph killed his wife! The mother of his children! But like I said, things are never black and white and while there’s no justification for murder, it’s not always straight up murder, if that makes sense and, so as we learn more of Joseph and Zoe’s life and as we see just how bad Joseph wants to see his kids it’s just not all that simple any more. I was all set to hate Joseph, but I didn’t. I can’t say that I liked him but I felt for him.

The novel asks a really important question about forgiveness, about just how far a person can go to ever be redeemable, and it was a novel that kept me hooked from the start. Having the story told from Scarlet, Hannah and Joseph’s point of view helped to see it from all angles, and it was definitely Scarlet’s voice who resonated most. She is the wisest, level-headed 13 year old I’ve ever come across and I could feel how torn she was over her loyalty to her grandparents and her need to see her father. It was a novel where I could see that everybody had a fair point.

I really, really enjoyed The Son in Law. It kept me reading all the way through and I even shed a tear or two at its conclusion. Charity Norman is an immensely talented writer, someone I’m so glad I read because she really is amazing. Fans of Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain will devour her novels because she knows how to keep readers hooked, how to make readers question their beliefs. I look forward to her next offering, because she can do no wrong, read her novels, they’re amazing!