Blurb for The Birthday House:
A friendship. A murder. A life that will never be the same.
The year is 1955, the location picturesque Devon.
In a house by the River Dart, schoolgirl Josephine Kennedy posts invitations to her twelfth birthday party – a party that never takes place.
Horrific violence is committed that night in the family home, leaving all of its occupants dead.
Based on a disturbing real-life crime, this compelling story explores Josephine’s fate through the prism of friends and family – the victims and survivors who unwittingly influenced the events that led up to the tragedy.
Josephine’s best friend, Susan, is haunted by the secrets of the birthday house. Can she ever find a way of making peace with the past?
Reviews:
“At what point does a close relationship between a man and a woman become an affair? And how do those closest react as their suspicions grow? This is an absorbing and moving account of the impact across the generations when emotions come to a head on one dramatic night”
Ian Hobbs, Devon Book Club“An engaging, accomplished, structurally-bold examination of a Fifties family tragedy told from the points of view of all involved, The Birthday House is also a profound meditation on grief and trauma and how it can shape us for the whole of our lives”
Peter Stamford“Grief, trauma and family tragedy. Enjoyed isn’t quite the right word here. More gripping and read in horror as the inexorable nightmare unfolds.
Set in 1955 and based on a real life crime, Jill dissects the possible cause of two murders and a suicide.
Many of the secrets have no doubt gone to the grave, but what she writes does seem plausible, be it the effect on Mrs Harrison, the daily help or a wife betrayed. A very accomplished novella.”
Devon Life Magazine