Beautifully written, Atmospheric and a rollercoaster of emotions

1958 A perfect summer, a young woman in love and having the time of her life.
1999 A family come together on the 1st anniversary of their mother’s death.

This book is written in dual narrative, Addie who is the oldest out of her 2 other siblings, and then through diaries written by their mother Elizabeth Harrington in the 1950’s.
Present day the Harrington family, Graham, the father and his three grown up children, Adele (Addie) Venetia who is heavily pregnant and Jasper all come together on the anniversary of their mother’s death.
Addie’s dad has been struggling since his wife passed away and isn’t in the best of health at the moment so when a stranger arrives on the doorstep looking for Elizabeth Harrington/Holloway claiming that Elizabeth was her mother Addie makes sure none of that reaches her dads ears.
Phoebe claims that she was adopted as a baby and that she was born at exactly the same time and date as Addie which would mean if all of it was true the two ladies are twins!
Obviously Addie and Venetia don’t believe any of it, even with the few bits Phoebe has brought with her. But seeing the writing in the journal, her mum’s writing finally makes Addie want to know more, about how could her mum give up just one of the babies and why did her parents lie to her. As far as she knew her parents were married before she came along but after searching through her parents house with the aid of her best childhood friend Andrew they find her parents marriage certificate along with a birth certificate with only her mothers name on it, the date of birth and the box for father’s name left blank, the certificate didn’t even have a name for the baby so the child’s name was documented as “Baby”
Addie whole life has just been turned upside-down and the only person who could have told them everything has taken the secrets to the grave with her.
As the twins start digging into their mothers history trying to make all the puzzle parts fit they begin to form a bond, a bond that only twins understand.
1958 – Elizabeth Holloway’s own mum Constance is dying of cancer, the doctors have told them that nothing else can be done for her now except keep her comfortable.
Elizabeth had always been close to her mother and had taken up reading sat at her bedside, reading to her, listening to things her dad didn’t approve of and under her mum’s strict instructions try to attend to her mother’s garden, bringing in roses, bringing some of the outside inside so her mum could smell it and imagine she was out in the garden.
So it came as a massive shock when she was told she was going to be sent away for the summer to stay with friends of her mother.
Her mum told her of all the wonderful times she had from her visits there and made Elizabeth promise to have fun, enjoy the countryside and to not worry about her!
Elizabeth didn’t want to leave her mum, not when she was so gravely ill but her parents insisted so she had no choice but to go.
At first she couldn’t settle, couldn’t stop worrying about her mum and decided that it would be inappropriate to be having fun why her mum was almost on death’s door.
But gradually not being happy became impossible with the Shaw family and the other young people staying there.
She learns how to ride a horse, swim and there were no strict rules and regulations. If you were late for breakfast it didn’t matter, she was just served it up whenever she found her way to the dining room.
On her 17th birthday she didn’t think anyone knew and she certainly hadn’t told anyone but to her delight they had a beautiful birthday cake waiting for her, presents and they had arranged a birthday party just for her.
And it was this birthday she received her first kiss! She fell deeply in love but in the end it all came crashing down around her. She found herself single and pregnant which in those times was nothing short of a scandal!
Addie and Phoebe slowly uncover layers of the past it takes us on that rollercoaster of emotions with them.
This book is certainly very engaging and evocative with strong likeable characters, some not so much! With twists and turns, surprises and mysteries, some coming as a bit of a shock!
This is a story about families, family secrets, identities, betrayal and how the past impacts on the future.
I really enjoyed this book, i was a bit wary when advertised for fans of Kate Morton but i was pleasantly surprised by this book, the writing is just sublime and it is hard to believe this is Nikola Scott’s first novel.
Perfect rainy duvet day book 🙂 ( )

In her debut novel, My Mother's Shadow, Nikola Scott uses the tried and tested dual timeline to draw readers into the story and it works a treat. With secrets to uncover, the pages turn effortlessly as we learn the story of Elizabeth Holloway through her diary excerpts. Her eldest daughter, Addie, never felt as if she was good enough for her mother and her mother's death a year prior means that Addie can never get answers to the questions that still float around in her head.

As the Harrington family gather to remember Elizabeth on the first anniversary of her death, they are disturbed by a stranger at the door. A stranger, Phoebe Roberts, who claims to be Elizabeth's daughter and she has the same date of birth as Addie. When Addie finally accepts that Phoebe is telling the truth, the newly reconnected sisters try to understand why Elizabeth kept one twin and gave away the other. Only by understanding what happened in the past, can Addie make sense of the strained relationship she had with her mother, and find the answers that she craves.

My Mother's Shadow is quite an emotional read; 1958 doesn't seem that long ago but it felt like the dark ages when I was reading this book. It just shows how very far we've come in the treatment of women and it also reminds us all that there are two sides to every story. I had a lump in my throat as Elizabeth's story was revealed piece by piece and my feelings towards her changed at the same time. I couldn't understand how Elizabeth treated Addie different to her younger siblings, Venetia and Jas, although she probably didn't even realise she was doing it. There was no doubt that Elizabeth loved Addie but Addie always got the impression that she disappointed her and she wasn't good enough...now we know why.

I loved how Addie jumped to conclusions, the same conclusions as I did, when Phoebe turned up but it transpired to be so very wrong. It's human nature to make such assumptions but if only we would gather all the facts beforehand we could save ourselves some heartache. The family theme is strong in My Mother's Shadow, both past and present, and it kept the story rolling along at just the right pace.

My Mother's Shadow is an emotional story about unearthing well-buried family secrets and how we like to keep things hidden but sometimes a problem shared is a problem halved.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

My Mother's Shadow is a beautifully written book that pulled out all the emotions; humor, grief, anger, joy, and contentment. Addie has always had a contentious relationship with her mom so when her mom dies she doesn't know how to react she's congratulating herself for how well she's dealing with the loss. But now a year after her death a woman (Phoebe) is on her father's doorstep claiming to be her sister, her twin sister. How could this be? Addie knows everything about her parents, sure they didn't really talk about the past but she knows her dad would have told her.

As we are reeling from this information Ms. Scott takes a back to her mother's time through her diaries. We find that Addie's mother, Liz, is dealing with her mother's imminent death from cancer. The way Liz talks about her the relationship with her mother was so beautiful, the bond they shared was something that brought tears to my eyes and made my breath catch in my throat . . . but part of that was for the way the story turned out.

Phoebe and Addie have their story and interwoven is Liz's story. I laughed at their other sister Venetia (who really seemed like the older sister - and I saying that being an older sister).

I really enjoyed the beginning of the story, it was like Ms. Scott is trying to tell us that we will be put through the emotional wringer and wanted to give us notice. I was chuckling, crying, and hoping & praying I was so caught up in the story. I really can't wait to read more from Ms. Scott. ( )

Adele Harington trauert um ihre Mutter Elizabeth, die vor einem Jahr tödlich verunglückte. Da geht erst ein merkwürdige Anruf ein und dann steht plötzlich eine Frau vor der Türe, die behauptet, ihre Zwillingsschwester zu sein. Kann das sein? Was ist damals geschehen? Die beiden Frauen machen sich auf die Suche, um das Rätsel zu lösen.
So erfahren wir nach und nach die Geschichte der jungen Elizabeth. Ihre Mutter liegt 1958 im Sterben und daher wir die Tochter den Sommer über zu Freunden nach Sussex geschickt. Dort erlebt sie unbeschwerte Tage und verliebt sich.
Die beiden Zeitstränge werden abwechselnd erzählt und erst so nach und nach erschließt sich, was geschehen ist.
Zunächst konnte ich nicht verstehen, wie kalt und distanziert sich Elizabeth gegenüber ihrer Tochter Adele, genannt Addie, verhalten hat. Warum hat sie die jüngere Tochter Venetia immer vorgezogen? Je mehr ich über Elizabeth erfahren hatte, umso besser konnte ich sie verstehen. Sie stand mit den Folgen ihrer Verliebtheit plötzlich alleine da und wurde von einem sehr strengen und engstirnigen Vater überfahren. Zum Glück hat sie einen wunderbaren Mann geheiratet, der ein liebevoller Vater für Addie geworden ist.
Addie und Phoebe machen sich gemeinsam auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit und es ist schön zu sehen, wie gut sie sich nach kurzer Zeit verstehen. Addies jüngere Schwester Venetia ging mir wirklich oft auf die Nerven, aber ich denke, dass sie auch mit allem, was geschehen ist, ein wenig überfordert war.
Es ist schon erschreckend, wie unverheiratete, schwangere Frauen früher behandelt wurden und wie man unter dem Deckmantel der Wohltätigkeit grausame Entscheidungen über ihren Kopf hinweg getroffen hat. Moralvorstellungen und Angst vor dem Gerede der Leute waren wichtiger als die Gefühle der betroffenen Frauen.
Ein sehr emotionale Geschichte, die mir gut gefallen hat. ( )

My Mother's Shadow is recommended for readers who also enjoy Kate Morton, which is me. I'm pleased to report that I agree with this and Nikola Scott is now an author whose future books I will look forward to reading.

This book is a dual time narrative story. The majority of it is made up of Addie telling us about the year that has passed since her mother's death. They had a sometimes difficult relationship that Addie has never been able to understand the reason for, especially as her mother and her younger sister, Venetia, got along famously. So you can imagine that a long lost sister turning up out of the blue was a bit of a shock!

The other part of the story is Addie's mother, Elizabeth's, diary entries from decades earlier in the late 1950s which nicely fill in the blanks in Addie's first person narrative.

It's a charming and beautifully written story. Not one to be rushed but one to take your time with and take in all the details of the cleverly woven tale. I loved following Addie on her journey of discovery, finding out more about her mother's life and in turn examining her own hopes for the future. It's my favourite kind of book I think, where two different times collide and where secrets are uncovered.

There are lots of surprises and mysteries and I couldn't always work them out which was nice. It's an evocative account of coming of age in post-austerity Britain and of the consequences that actions can have many years down the line.

I found My Mother's Shadow to be hugely pleasurable to read and a little bit heart-breaking. I'll definitely be looking out for Nikola Scott's next book. ( )