Postcards from a Stranger - (Audio) Book Review

 

Postcards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark
Audio book narrated by Henrietta Meire
(10 hrs and 11 min) (2018)

Cara grew up with her father and brother, and doesn't have any proper memories of her mother, who died when she was just around 2 years old. As an adult, she's still living with her father, who now has Alzheimer's; while her older brother, Michael, lives in London and has a family of his own. Cara has a skill for dressmaking, and runs her own business from home, designing wedding dresses; which also allows her to keep an eye on and be at hand for her father. In the long run that all gets a bit too much for Cara, tough; but then she manages to employ a qualified nurse to help her father in the daytime.

One day, Cara happens to find a stash of old postcards in the attic. The cards, from various corners of the world, are addressed to Cara and Michael, sent regularly every year until Cara's 18th birthday, always with the same message. The sender is anonymous, but Cara starts thinking that it feels like the cards could be from her mum - if not for the fact that the cards are all from after her mum died...

Cara's father is too deeply lost in his disease to be of any help, so Cara tries talking to her brother about it. But Michael says he does not know anything about the cards - and obviously they can't be from their mum, as she was already dead when they were sent.

Cara can't let go of the mystery though. She finds out that her mother had a sister, now living in America, and actually flies over there to try and get in touch with her aunt.

Even this does not seem to unravel the mysteries involved, though.

Somewhere half way into the story I began to have some suspicions of my own about the outcome in the end... But as it turned out, I too was on the wrong track.

I'm not going to reveal any more, but I got quite wrapped up in this book while listening to it. (It was another one included to listen to for free in my Audible membership. Seems to be the only one of hers included there for free, though.)

The author's page on Audible says:

Multi-million copy bestselling author Imogen Clark writes contemporary book club fiction about the hidden truths within families—and the consequences of uncovering them. Her novels have topped the Amazon Kindle charts eight times and are now translated into twelve languages, reaching readers worldwide. Originally a lawyer, Imogen left her legal career to raise her four children before returning to her first love—books. She studied English Literature part-time at university and soon began writing stories of her own. When she’s not writing, Imogen is usually planning her next adventure. A passionate traveller, she finds inspiration for her novels everywhere from Yorkshire, where she lives with her husband, to the far corners of the globe.

When I tried looking her up in Wikipedia, I just found an author with the same name who lived 1858-1936, though!