Page Turners – May 2023 review

The Page Turners’ book for May really polarised opinion with half of us liking it and the other half feeling quite the opposite.

We read ‘Lily: a Tale of Revenge’ by Rose Tremain. This 2021 novel by a much-acclaimed author is set in the 1860s and tells the story of a young girl raised by a foundling hospital after she was rescued from wolves as a new-born baby by a passing policeman. As was the custom, she was fostered by a family in the countryside for the first years of her life, before being returned to the harsh reality of the hospital where she learned that she needed to atone for the assumed sins of her mother.

When the book opens, we learn that Lily has become a very skilled and valued apprentice wigmaker. However, she has committed a murder and fears the hangman’s noose. As the book unfolds, we learn her tragic story and find out who she murdered and why. We are left wrestling with questions such as whether murder can be justified and why taking revenge may not satisfy the wronged person.

Some of us felt this was an engaging and well-written book; others felt it was unremittingly miserable and over melodramatic. We will leave you to read it and decide for yourself!

Deborah Wallis