A Little Stranger

I started this blog to keep track of what I've read and I try to post a little summary of a book as soon as I've finished. My life has been less settled over the past few months - nothing bad, just frantic - so I've been remiss both about reading and reporting on it. I read Kate Pullinger's A Little Stranger in tiny bits when I could grab a few moments here and there. It was a surprisingly easy read given the difficult subject matter.

Fran seems to have an okay sort of life. She's married to Nick, a nice chap; they live in London and have a lovely (most of the time) baby boy, Louis. She has left a job she liked because it didn't pay enough to cover the cost of child care. Like all mothers Fran feels oppressed by the day to day grind of motherhood but, unlike most, one day she decides she's had enough and walks out the door leaving her husband and baby behind. She has no destination in mind and, on a whim, ends up in Vegas. From Vegas, almost but not quite by chance, Fran travels to Vancouver, her childhood home, where her sister and father still live.

Maternal desertion is the theme of this book. As the story unwinds we find that Fran's mother, Ireni, is an alcoholic who repeatedly abandoned her husband and two daughters until finally she disappeared altogether. This is where Fran's view of herself as "a rubbish mother" began. When she experiences the frustration most new mothers without a family network feel she fears that she is like Ireni who has left a damaged family in her wake.

Fran feels a strong need to reconnect with her mother, now living among the tragic ranks of Vancouver's homeless. When she does she is finally able to exorcise the demon Ireni that has occupied a space inside her. We are left believing that Fran will now return to her husband and baby and will be a better mother, wife and person with a clearer understanding of herself after discovering why her own mother did the things she did. I'm not so optimistic.

This was a well written book about the ripple effects of maternal abandonment.