Publishers Weekly
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In her splendid debut, Anstruther portrays an aristocratic woman’s abandonment of her husband and three young children in the 1920s for life in a British Christian Science retreat, and the subsequent custody battle that followed. That this story is based on the author’s grandmother, Enid Campbell Anstruther, brings veracity to a complex tale. After nearly two years of no communication, Enid writes her husband from the retreat, intending to return to being a mother but wanting a divorce. He agrees with the proviso that he has full custody of their children. The ensuing, dragged-out court case places Enid at odds with her older sister, Joan, who not only holds the family fortune, but has made Enid’s son, Ian (the author’s father), her heir, having taken care of Enid’s two other children during her absence. The story unfolds primarily through Enid’s daughter, Finetta, bemoaning the weekly visits to her mother in a nursing home in 1964, and Enid, who has just learned she’s about to see the son she hasn’t laid eyes on in 25 years, and whom she essentially gave to her sister for £500. This robust story provides insight into aristocratic duties, sibling revenge, and the convoluted feelings that can arise between mothers and their children. This lush family saga will appeal to fans of Ann Patchett. (Feb.)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Enid Campbell never wanted to marry, but her aristocratic family needs an heirand after her brother is killed in World War I, it falls to Enid to produce one. This pressure will lead to cascades of unhappiness down the generations.Poisoned, splintered relationships characterize this saga of upper-class life in 1920s Britain, radiating outward from the fallible Enid, whose discomfort as a daughter, sister, and mother dominates events. Favored by her father, who also died early, Enid makes a questionable marriage to Douglas, "a nobody, a nothing," and then has a son, Fagus, who's "born with something wrong with him" and becomes an invalid after falling down the stairs, turning the child into "the living breathing embodiment of everything she'd done wrong." Loveless though her marriage is, Enid stays in it to provide a fully able heir, although she would rather be a nun or devote herself to her Christian Science beliefs. Two more children are born, but the pressure and postnatal depression are too much, and Enid flees, leaving her sister, Joan, and Joan's "companion," Pat, to step in. Anstruther's debut, a fictionalized version of her own family's history, is a dark story of close relationships gone awry. Enid's stony, withering mother, Sybil, was always closer to Joan; Enid believes Joan hates her; Enid's daughter, Finetta, believes her mother hates her and neglects her own daughter in turn while feeling crushing love for her son. For all the sophistication of tone and expression to be found in the book, the familial relationships emerge naked, brutaland gender biased. Anstruther depicts a privileged world that offers little in the way of human warmth and a group of characters almost uniformly miserable despite their material comfort. It makes for a chilly read, its gloom only deepened by a running 1964 episode in which an elderly Enid is confronted by the measure of her failure.A stifling, dismaying tale of upper-class dysfunction elegantly told. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

This exquisitely written debut is a fictionalized story of the author's father, who was sold to his aunt for a small sum. Enid Campbell is a renowned beauty who ""looks like a statue and acts like one."" She is burdened with providing an heir for her family, though her marriage is a loveless one. After giving birth, her postpartum depression goes undiagnosed, and Enid shocks everyone by abandoning her family. Her obsession with God leads her to make decisions that are rooted in faith, even though they may not be what's best for her children. Her drastic action sets a series of events into motion, including a divorce, a kidnapping, a court case, and, finally, selling her son to her sister. This heart-wrenching tale provides an inside look at the inner workings of a privileged, aristocratic family that values money over everything else. Readers who follow Enid's anguished journey will be left raw with emotion. This immersive story about family, inheritance, and motherhood is a good read-alike for Paula McLain's historical fiction.--Crystal Vela Copyright 2019 Booklist