Book description
The voices of Jane's mum and dad ring in her ears. These days, they
never stop fighting. She squeezes her eyes shut and wishes she could do
the same with her ears. She resorts to the only thing she knows to help
her cope. When her best friend Leah questions her about the criss-cross
marks on her arms, Jane blames the cat. And when Leah tells her that
true best friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other, Jane knows
that's only talk. Everyone has secrets, even Leah. She never mentions
her brother Jack, sometimes it's as if he never even existed. And yet,
his absence is so palpable you can almost touch it. Alison, Jack's mum,
escapes into her dreams, where she becomes reunited with her dead son.
It is less than a year since he was killed in a tragic road accident,
for which she blames herself, and the pain still feels like an open
wound in her chest. She struggles to hold herself together for the sake
of her family, but the strain is telling, and when she and Jane's dad
Dermot meet, it feels briefly that they are kindred spirits. But darker
conclusions lie in wait. The Cut of Love explores two journeys of the
heart, one of an adolescent girl, the other of a middle-aged woman. As
their paths interweave, a remarkable story unfolds - at once modern and
timeless -that is bitingly real, deeply tender and utterly
unforgettable. 'A remarkable book that expands the frontiers of Irish
popular fiction.' Helena Close was born in Cork in 1959 but moved to
Limerick at the age of five. She attended UCG where she studied English
and Sociology and has worked in a variety of jobs while rearing her four
children. She now writes full-time.
