I’m thrilled to be taking part in the tour for Mine. I loved Clare Empson’s debut, Him, so I jumped at the chance to read her latest. Thank you to Tracy Fenton and Orion for inviting me. My blog buddy today is my good friend, Jacob Collins, so feel free to check out his review on Hooked From Page One.

The Blurb

‘Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?’

On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He’s an A&R man, she’s an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel.

But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.

When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice – fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago – starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won’t settle for his mother pushing him aside once again…

My Review

Sometimes with a book, you want a sweeping story. Other times you want to be connected with the emotional turmoil that the characters are going through. And then there are times when you learn things that you might never have learnt. With Mine, you get all three.

The novel comprises of two entwinned stories – Now (in 2000) with Luke and Then (early 1970s) with Alice. I wrote on Twitter when I was half-way through reading that this book is ‘splendidly intense’. Having now finished it, I completely stand by that statement. There’s something about Clare Empson’s writing, and it’s hard to put a finger on it, that draws you in right from the very beginning. In the opening chapter, we’re confronted with the very awkward first meeting between Luke and his birth mother, Alice. From then on Luke’s story is about reconnecting with Alice (or trying to) whereas hers describes the passionate love affair that brought Luke into being. I was totally caught up by both. And that’s where the emotional turmoil comes in. Luke struggles to make sense of all the emotions and memories rising up in him. Alice, aged 19, embarks on the most passionate love affair of her life. It made me wonder if this kind of love only lives in books or TV or films but I think not. At least, I hope not. Both stories are exquisitely and intensely written.

But I also learnt things from this book. Clare Empson goes into great detail about art and techniques and there are a few chapters set in Florence. It reminded me of some of the paintings I saw (or tried to see over the hordes) at the Uffizi. Luke is an A&R man. I have to confess I had to Google it. I’ve heard of it but didn’t know that A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire. In a sense, it’s almost the equivalent of a literary agent but not quite. The A&R person works for the record label and it’s his/her’s job to find new talent and sign them. So Luke has to keep his wits about him if he’s going to get in ahead of the rest to sign the latest big thing. Probably not the best time to be having issues with his birth mother.

However, what really set this book apart for me, were the ‘quotes’ about adoption at the beginning of Luke’s chapters. I thought this was a real book but in fact, Clare Empson has made them up based on research she did on adoption. Each ‘quote’ was utterly convincing and set the tone for Luke for that part of the story.

The intensity of Mine meant there were times when I had to put it down, even though I wanted to continue reading. But I had to give myself a bit of space to absorb all the raw emotions spilling out of the characters. A heart-breaking and compelling read.

You can buy Mine here.

 

The Author

Clare Empson is a journalist with a background in national newspapers and has worked as a small business editor, finance correspondent and fashion at the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Express. Clare freelances for The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard and Tatler amongst others. She currently works as editor/founder of experiential lifestyle website http://www.countrycalling.co.uk. Him is her debut novel. Her second novel Mine is an exploration of the fraught relationship between a birth mother and her adopted son set against a backdrop of a passionate love affair in the 70s. Mine will be available August 2019.