Morag Joss Half Broken Things

Half Broken Things

Morag Joss

Delacorte, Oct 2005, $22.00, 320 pp.

ISBN: 0385339402

Town and Country Sitters sent the letter to subcontracted house sitter Jean that after she completes the current nine-month assignment at Bath's Walden Manor, she will receive no further work because she will have turned sixty-five and cannot obtain insurance. Melancholy, Jean has lived alone even as an adopted child as her new parents never showered her with love. Over the years she made up imaginary relatives like her niece Jenny who cared what happens to her.

In Walden Manor, Jean accidentally shatters a teapot containing a set of keys that enable the lonely woman to open the upstairs locked rooms and her imagination as a resident of Walden Manor. She creates a grown son that years before she was forced to give up for adoption and advertises in a magazine pleading for his return. Con artist Michael responds accompanied by a pregnant woman, Steph, whom he just met as she flees from her abusive boyfriend. The trio forges a happy home though the end state countdown begins when Steph's baby is born but inexplicably dies and a country curate who is visiting recognizes Michael as a thief.

Even without Sara Selkirk appearing, Morag Joss is a brilliant virtuoso playing a dark concerto that grips the audience as few novels can. The lead trio is damaged goods that society ignores; each finds solace in the loving family unit they form together leading to the audience to wonder how far any one of them or as a "mob" will go to protect what they now believe is theirs. Though British, fans of deep family dramas will appreciate this gritty thriller that recolor "values" from red to blue.

Harriet Klausner