Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1281912 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 372 pages

Synopsis
Touching and psychologically astute, Bernice Ruben''s latest novel is a masterly portrait of a troubled p syche. Other titles by the author include The Elected Member , A Five Year Sentence and Go Tell the Lemming. '

Customer Reviews

Deeply moving tale.
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Thought provoking.
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.