Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Livia Denby is on trial for attempted murder. The jury have reached a verdict. Two years earlier, Livia was a probation officer in Yorkshire, her husband Scott a teacher. Their children, Heidi and Noah, round out a happy family until the day Scott's brother dies.
Grief and guilt leave Scott seeking answers, a search which takes him into the world of conspiracy theories. As his grip on reality slides, he makes a decision which will put the family on a collision course with tragedy. Livia's family has been torn apart, and now her son's life is hanging in the balance. Just how far will she go to save the ones she loves?
Ugandan-born New Zealand author Charity Norman sure knows how to pack a punch in her mystery and thriller tales, even as she largely eschews high-concept hooks and hyped up #OMGThatTwist style endings that publicists and social media seem to cherish. Instead, the former British barrister (courtroom attorney) draws readers in with the depth of her characters and the quality of her writing, before splitting your defences with well-placed uppercuts, rather than looping haymakers.
Her Ngaio Marsh Award-winning rural suspense Remember Me, a tale about a prodigal daughter returned home to deal with a father suffering from Alzheimer’s only to uncover troubling family secrets relating to a long-missing local woman, was the last book to make me cry. In Norman’s new novel Home Truths she stirs similarly strong, if rather different, emotions.
Livia Denby is used to dealing with criminals in her role as a Yorkshire probation officer, but now she’s at risk of a lengthy prison term herself, as a jury in 2022 is deliberating whether Livia is guilty of attempted murder and other violent crimes. How did loving mother Livia end up in court?
Norman takes us back to August 2019, where a family birthday turns to tragedy.
It was meant to be a joyous day for the Denby family, as they celebrated daughter Heidi’s thirteenth birthday. The newly minted teenager had simple wishes: a bike ride with her father Scott across the Yorkshire countryside, have lunch at a tavern, then head home. Livia would hold down the fort at home along with Heidi’s severely asthmatic six-year-old little brother Noah, before further family celebrations. But a phone was left behind, and the consequences were shocking.
Several missed calls. Scott’s brother Nicky, a type 1 diabetic with an intellectual disability, needs help but no one answers; he dies on Heidi’s birthday. The whole Denby family are left shell-shocked, but amiable teacher Scott takes it particularly hard, wracked with guilt for not being there for his brother. Searching for answers, comfort, or meaning while mired in grief, Scott starts connecting with others online. Meanwhile, Livia struggles to keep the family afloat, as Heidi withdraws, Noah suffers through health challenges, and Scott’s behaviour becomes increasingly fraught as he immerses himself in a world conspiracy theories and grifting charlatans, threatening his career, his marriage, and his family. What would you do if the person you love becomes barely recognisable?
While Home Truths opens in a Yorkshire courtroom, it’s not a courtroom thriller as such; instead, more of a domestic thriller. Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances that put everything they care for at deadly risk. Norman takes us inside the perspectives of Livia, Scott, and teenager Heidi, weaving together a terrifying tale of just how easy it can be for people to be pulled apart by grief. Scott’s descent down the rabbit-hole of fake news, ‘truthers’ and internet conspiracies is harrowing yet all-too-believable. Too many of us can probably think of otherwise sane, intelligent, caring friends or family members who bizarrely swallowed disinformation Kool-Aid of various kinds in recent years. Masterfully written, Home Truths shows a talented author at the top of her game
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.
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