Review: A STRANGER IN THE FAMILY, Robert Barnard

• this edition published in 2010 by Allison & Busby
• ISBN 978-0-7490-0822-2
• 255 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

Kit Philipson has always felt like something of a stranger in his family. Growing up as the only child of professional parents in Glasgow, Scotland, he had every advantage. His mother was a teacher; his father, a journalist, escaped from Nazi Germany at the age of three on one of the 1939 Kindertransports. But on her deathbed, Kit’s mother tells him he was adopted and that his birth name was Novello. Soon, vague memories of his early life begin to surface: his nursery, pictures on the wall, the smell of his birth mother when she’d been cooking. And, sometimes, there are more disturbing memories—of strangers taking him by the hand and leading him away from the only family he had ever known.

A search of old newspaper files reveals that a three-year-old boy named Peter Novello was abducted from his parents’ holiday hotel in Sicily in 1989. Now the young man who has known himself only as Kit sets out to rediscover his past, the story of two three-year-old boys torn from their mothers in very different circumstances. Kit’'s probing inquiries are sure to bring surprises. They may also unearth dangerous secrets that dare never be revealed.

With sharp wit and deep insight, Robert Barnard sweeps away all preconceptions in this powerful study of maternal love and the danger of obsession.

My Take

After the death of his adoptive mother Kit Philipson decides to contact his birth mother to see what she can tell him about how he came to be adopted. By the time he meets her Kit knows that he was abducted while on holiday with his family at the age of 3. His welcome by his birth mother is effusive but that by her children is very guarded.

Kit comes to suspect that he was abducted to order, and that his adoptive father possibly knew more than he ever told. His search for the truth takes him to Leeds, to Vienna, and to Sicily.

An interesting if not particularly believable plot, with some quite nasty characters.

An author I should read more by.

My rating: 4.4

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About the author 1936-2013
He was a prolific writer, creating more than 30 published works during his life. These also included several non-fiction works which studied other authors, including books on the Bronte sisters. His writing style was very varied, and over the course of his books he changed his style from light and humour-filled, to exploring the darker side of human psychology. In wider society he was noted for his cheerfulness, and he had a sharp wit. He was a member of the Crime Writers’ Association, and spoke at many conventions and conferences for writers and their fans. Read more