I finished my latest challenge designed to reduce the size of my book piles at the end of November. You can see here how I got on. I did have a few books unread at the end of the challenge and I want to finish those in the next month or so, although they are no longer a priority so that might slip.
One of the remaining books is The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney. I picked this up at some point in a charity shop because I had read The Tenderness of Wolves by the same author and enjoyed it (see my review here). This latest book is a large format paperback and in reasonable condition.
The story is set in the late 1970s and early 1980s and there are some references to events taking place in the larger world. This explains why the word gypsy is used to describe Roma and travelling communities. It’s not a word that we would use these days in this way and there were occasions when it jarred me. The focus of the book is a gypsy family who live in their trailer caravans in a space in the woods and who are stationary for most of the story.
Ray is a private investigator whose very absent father was a gypsy. He is asked by a member of the travelling community to investigate the disappearance of their daughter Rose who was married to Ivo and who apparently left him seven years ago. Part of the story is told from Ray’s point of view as he delves into the history of the family and talks to Ivo and those who live with him, although he finds them to be very secretive and unforthcoming. It becomes apparent that this is a very unfortunate family because they have an inheritable disease which causes early death in young men and is currently afflicting Ivo’s son Christo. As Ray investigates bones are found on a previous site which might be those of Rose or which may be those of someone else entirely.
Other parts of this book are told from the point of view of JJ who is fourteen and Ivo’s nephew. He loves his family and is bewildered by what is happening. He feels that he has been lied to all his life and he is confused and upset for a lot of the story. His inclusion, however, means that we see the inside as well as the outside of the family.
This is a mystery story with a solution that came as a surprise to me – I didn’t find it at all predictable. It’s very evenly paced but the tension rises as events progress and everyone is changed, especially Ray and JJ, by what happens. This is an excellent story and I very much enjoyed reading it. I shall pass this book onto Oxfam for a new reader to find.
Anne Is Reading 