Ties that Bind

Can you leave a life behind, simply by walking away? What would you do if you were invisible to your husband and your teenage son? How would you feel if they no longer spoke to you; if you knew your husband had had an affair? And what if your mother; a lifelong alcoholic, had just suffered a stroke that would see her become completely dependent on you? Above all, what if you were cherishing a secret grief so bitter and painful that it was consuming you from within? Then imagine that one day you won £30.000 on the horses. Would you take the money and simply walk away? Deveney explores the loneliness, secrets and silences that can haunt even the most loving of families. Using a second narrator, a caustic and ambitious policewoman, she also weaves in a troubling sub-plot that brings to light the damage that is sometimes handed down from one generation to another. A beautifully written, poignant and thought-provoking book, Ties That Bind takes a clear-eyed look at bonds between people, and the way in which ? against all odds ? some can never be broken. AUTHOR: Catharine Deveney, a features writer for Scotland on Sunday, lives in Scotland, with her family. Ties That Bind is her first novel. SELLING POINTS: -A stunning debut by a new talent in women's fiction -For fans of Jodi Picoult -Deveney writes brilliantly about relationships and families -Well-plotted, with a compelling dual-narrative format