This had all the makings of a great novel but for some reason it didn't quite do it for me.

It explores some interesting themes - violence against women, generational trauma, child abuse, secrets and shame. The power of the past. How these things impact across generations and bleed into all of our relationships. But it was all kind of dull to me.

I knew it would be a non starter as soon as I started. I rarely have any sympathy or understanding for infidelity; I'm pretty black and white where that's concerned so I was on the wrong foot with both the main characters from the start.

What follows is a history of misogyny against all the women in the story, catalogue after catalogue of child abuse, rape, infidelity, manslaughter etc etc and an, at times, interesting exploration of the impact that our pasts, and the collective pasts of our families have on our current and future selves.

My biggest problem was that the central relationship just didn't feel sold to me. I didn't believe in the relationship between Elle and Jonas. And that kind of undoes it all really. I also really couldn't get on board with Elle. She was so passive and any time she made a decision, she berated herself. It became infuriating. I appreciate that I haven't had any level of trauma in my life but frankly if I had allowed someone to drown after they raped me, I just can't imagine holding that much guilt. I think I'm more like Anna than Elle though.

So yeah, it was fine in terms of theme but most of the characters annoyed me.

P.S really enjoyed all the pearl clutching in the rest of the reviews. How dare you recommend a book that has CHILD ABUSE in it Reese. Think of the children would you. It's not even relevant to the story