Tuesday, October 17, 2023

10.17.2023 - This House of Grief

This House of Grief by Helen Garner 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, for gifting me a digital ARC of this heartbreaking book by Helen Garner - 5 stars!

On Father’s Day, 2005, in Australia, separated husband Robert Farquharson was driving his three young sons back to their mom’s house when the car veered off the road and plunged into a dam. Robert survived the crash but his boys drowned.  Was it an accident due to medical reasons?  An attempted murder-suicide?  Or an act of revenge to get back at his estranged wife?  

This is the story of the trial of Robert Farquharson, told in beautiful, eloquent writing that will make you really think about trials, courtrooms, and all those caught up in such stories, which is all of us.  It's impossible not to grieve for the loss of those three little boys and the lives they could have lived.  But there are feelings for everyone involved, from the defendant and his family and friends, to the investigators, lawyers, and witnesses, and to the jurors tasked with making life-or-death decisions.  The author witnessed the entire trial and subsequent appeal, becoming for the reader a part of the story; one of many witnesses in the house of grief.  

No comments:

Post a Comment