The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish
Nature? Nurture? Or just plain luck?
Single mums, Tia and Kay, meet when their sons are born on the same day.
Tia is a product of the welfare system but wants a better life for her son. Her entrapment by her manipulative and controlling boyfriend in the world of drink, drugs, crime and enforced prostitution suggests otherwise. Is she a ‘born devil’ or can she change and break free?
Kay comes from a stable home but sacrifices it all, initially, to live her own kind of life.
Overshadowed by betrayals, mistakes, regrets, and the mystery of an abandoned child, their paths – and those of their families – run parallel or criss-cross over twenty-five years.
Can determination and the power of the snow globe offer a chance of happiness?
About the author.
Angela worked in medical research, electronic and electrical engineering, and administration. In her mid-thirties, she decided to change direction and returned to university to study Humanities, specialising in Literature and Creative Writing. She then completed an MPhil (Literature) focussing on how women writers in Wales, between 1850 and 1950, portrayed their female characters. Following this, Angela joined the staff the University of Glamorgan where, in 2000, she set up and directed The Wales Centre for Intergenerational Practice. As well as providing training and advice, she worked with local schools and communities, over a period of ten years, to improve communication between the generations. She has been in demand, nationally and internationally, as a conference presenter and an invited speaker in her field.
Her publications include non-fiction, short stories, poetry, and fiction for children. The Fractured Globe is her first full-length novel and explores the nature/nurture question through the lives of two single mums, their sons, and families, over twenty-five years. This debate, together with an interest in mythology and magic, has significantly influenced her writing.
Angela is a member of The Society of Authors [SoA], and the SoA Children's Writers and Illustrators Group.
She lives in south Wales.
Review
‘A Fractured Globe’ is a heartbreaking, tender but at times brutal look, at the debate of nature versus nurture. The entwined stories of Kay and Tia show how one action can change the course of your lives. It’s not simply wanting to change you life, you have to have either the gumption and will power to do it yourself or have support there to do so. This book definitely packs a punch.
Just a trigger warning to say that there are themes of addiction, sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as child neglection.
Tia and Kay meet when they both give birth to their sons on the same day. Tia is clearly struggling as she has no idea about what to do with a baby, no where to live and no one to help her. She doesn’t want to get the authorities involved though as she is determined to keep her son. Kay kindly helps her by showing her how to feed Luke, bathe him etc. But when she is discharged it looks that she will never see Tia again. However, Tia manages to pinch Kay’s address from her medical records and turns up on her door asking for help and somewhere to stay.
Throughout the book we find out the backgrounds of both girls and how they both ended up alone with no family to help them. Tia is a product of the care system whereas Kay comes from a stable family but they both find themselves in the same position. How do our childhoods and societal environments affect the person you become and are you destined to fail if you come from a more fractured background? There were points in the middle of the book after Tia has left Kay’s house that I found quite depressing. Basically the whole time she was around Jake. Poor Luke. The images that came to mind were horrific. But then that’s what the author wants us to feel. The sadness, the horror, the disbelief that this could happen. It shows how good the writing is if it shocks and tackles our preconceptions!
This is definitely a thought provoking book and one I would recommend. It’s not an easy read at times but what it deals with is important. Books are a powerful educator and this is certainly the case here.
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3iLhPRl
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/39Y9JAP
