Book Review: The Darlings by Angela Jackson

When Mark Darling is fifteen years old, he is the golden boy, captain of the school football team, admired by all who know him. Until he kills his best friend in a freak accident.

He spends the next decade drifting between the therapy couch and dead-end pursuits. Then along comes Sadie. A mender by nature, she tries her best to fix him, and has enough energy to carry them both through the next few years.

One evening, Mark bumps into an old schoolfriend, Ruby. She saw the accident first hand. He is pulled towards her by a force stronger than logic: the universal need to reconcile one’s childhood wounds. This is his chance to, once again, feel the enveloping warmth of unconditional love. But can he leave behind the woman who rescued him from the pit of despair, the wife he loves? His unborn child?

This is a story about how childhood experience can profoundly impact how we behave as adults. It’s a story about betrayal, infidelity and how we often blinker ourselves to see a version of the truth that is more palatable to us.

Mark is haunted by the tragedy of killing his best friend when they were still at school. Even though he now has a wife who saved him from rock bottom and a baby on the way, the events of his schooldays still haunt him.

Enter Ruby. A girl from those days who was there. Who saw everything.

Mark is drawn to Ruby but can he stop himself before he crosses that line and loses everything in his life?

I’ve not read ‘The Emergence of Judy Taylor’ so I’m new to Angela Jackson’s novels.
The Darlings intrigued me from page one. Mark is a character you have both empathy and dislike for all at the same time. He struggles mentally with the fact that he accidentally killed his friend. He behaves in a way that isn’t great. As a reader, this really conflicted me and it was really interesting to see how much of the past can influence the future. I think everyone can relate to that aspect in some way.

As with Mark, I also struggled with Ruby. She goes into a relationship with Mark knowing his situation but she falls in love. I think she becomes a victim of that.
As I progressed through the book, I wondered whether these two could be redeemed.
Yes, what they do isn’t very nice but when you’re connected by something so tragic, it does create a bond especially if you’re still needing to get past these events. I found the way both the story and the characters split my opinion really interesting.

The Darlings is told primarily from Mark and Ruby’s point of view with supporting characters occasionally giving us a glimpse of their world. I liked this as you could see how everyone was affected, not just Mark and Ruby.

The Darlings is a compelling novel that deals with hard subject matters in an interesting way. It seems strange to say that I enjoyed this book especially when you consider what it’s about but I couldn’t put it down.

Angela Jackson does a really great job of putting across the argument that not everything is going to be black and white. There are usually reasons why people behave in certain ways and sometimes the things we do are going to be bad. It doesn’t excuse the bad choices made but it goes a way to being able to understand why those choices were made.

If you’re looking for a book that has you internally debating the content, The Darlings is perfect. I am still thinking about it long after I finished and I love it when a book does that.

About Angela Jackson:

On publication of her debut novel, The Emergence of Judy Taylor, Angela Jackson was named one of UNESCO City of Literature’s emerging writers. The novel won Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award, and was also Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year. It reached number 1 on Amazon’s Comic Fiction chart and number 2 in General Fiction.

A former psychology lecturer, she is now a tutor in creative writing for OCA.

Her second novel, The Darlings, was published globally on 22 May 2021 (ebook/Kindle) and 21 June 2021 (paperback).

Her one-woman show, The Darling Monologues, premiered at Edinburgh Fringe, to critical acclaim.

Say hello to Angela on Twitter. 

The Darlings was released by Lightning Books. Click to buy on Amazon UK. 

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.