Book Review: The Split by Amanda Brookfield

I am pleased to be welcoming Amanda Brookfield to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, The Split.

Two decades on from a passionate courtship and marriage, Lucas and Esther are getting divorced.

For Esther, it’s proving hard not to feel bitter watching Lucas enjoying his successful career, not to mention the attentions of his gorgeous, intelligent, and predictably younger lover. She meanwhile is struggling to forge a new life for herself, navigating the pitfalls of modern dating, while trying not to despair at the cost of living as a single woman of a certain age.

Then Lucas faces a shattering accusation at the same time as their children Dylan and Lily, start to implode.  When Dylan runs away, and as his father fights to save his reputation, Lucas and Esther find themselves back in each other’s lives, whether they like it or not.

Has too much water passed under the bridge, or will long-forgotten loyalties and feelings bring the family back together, just when they need each other the most?

*****

After a twenty year marriage, Esther and Lucas are divorced. They, and the two children they share, now have to adjust to the new normal.

Esther is finding it difficult to witness her ex-husband’s new life. With a great job and a fiancée, he’s flying high. She knows that she has to find her new place in the world.

However, when Lucas’s life is derailed and their son, Dylan runs away, Lucas and Esther have to communicate, whether they want to or not.

Having previously not read any of Amanda Brookfield’s previous books, I didn’t know what type of novel this was going to be.

The Spilt is a slow burner and it did take me a while to get into it. To begin with, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I was very pleased I persevered. What I found was that this was a very interesting and detailed look into relationships between ordinary people. There are many twists and turns. Sometimes I loved the characters, other times I disliked their behaviour but as I progressed through the book, I became invested in them. Oh, and I want to adopt the cat.

Told from the point of view of mostly Esther and Lucas, you get occasional glimpses of the story from the point of view of other characters which I liked. It gave me such a broad view of the emotions these characters are dealing with. It’s these people that drive this plot forward.

Esther and Lucas were both interesting characters but were also frustrating at the same time. Esther had very little self esteem, especially at the beginning. She didn’t know the effect she had on the world around her. Having learnt to make herself small in her marriage, she became small. She also focused on her children to the detriment of her marriage, in Lucas’s opinion anyway – something a lot of people can relate to I think.

Lucas seems to be the opposite of Esther. He has a lot of confidence in his ability, so much so that he doesn’t see when he upsets people. However, I also got the feeling with him that at least some of it is a shield. To be the smartest guy in the room was a defence mechanism. If he could prove he was the best, then he wasn’t as bad a parent as his own estranged father had been.

With this novel, Amanda Brookfield really does study how we conduct relationships and how communication is such an important aspect. Esther and Lucas did not talk about the issues they had and instead, let it fester until it lead to divorce. They lost their way as a couple and instead of remaining a team, they became inwardly focused on their own emotions and feelings.

It is also a very interesting look into how a parent’s behaviour can impact a child and how, if we’re not careful, history can repeat itself, even in small ways. Lucas has a bad relationship with his father so in order to not be like him, he becomes controlling over his children especially when it comes to academic achievement which puts enormous pressure on his children. This then causes Dylan, who is eighteen, to run away, not wanting to face his father due to a fear of not being allowed to forge his own path. Lily meanwhile, is not always happy with the attention her younger sibling gets. Like I said though, they don’t really talk to each other so nothing can really get resolved.

I am really hoping I have not given too much away. I hope this is a novel you’ll try. It’s an interesting and compelling look into the frailty of relationships, how communication is everything, that we don’t always know everything about our family and how it’s better to not let things fester. It’s also about self discovery and awareness, being sure of what you want out of life and how things don’t always go the way you plan.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

About Amanda Brookfield: 

Amanda Brookfield is the bestselling author of 16 novels including Good Girls, her first book for Boldwood, Relative Love and Before I Knew You, as well as a memoir, For the Love of a Dog starring her Golden Doodle Mabel.

She lives in London and has recently finished a year as Visiting Creative Fellow at University College Oxford.

The Split was released by Boldwood Books on 10th August 2022. Click to buy on Amazon UK and Waterstones. 

Say hello via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Click here to sign up to Amanda’s newsletter.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.