My mind was blown away when I received an advanced reader’s copy of Broken Branches by M. Jonathan Lee from his publishing house Hideaway fall. All they asked was for an honest review of the book. With my love for reading and my constant travel this was an opportunity that I couldn’t say no to. That’s how I was introduced to the book and it did not take long for me to fall in love with it.
MEET M. JONATHAN LEE
Broken Branches is not the first book that M. Jonathan Lee has written. Born in Yorkshire (where he is still a resident) this author has three other books under his belt. His other books include The Radio, The Page and A Tiny Feeling of Fear. Of these three his book The Radio was shortlisted in the Novel Prize 2012. Something tells me that ‘Broken Branches’ may very well follow along the same path.
BROKEN BRANCHES
I was pleasantly surprised when ‘Broken Branches’ reached me just before I started my trip to Malaysia. With a 12 hour journey ahead of me, a book was welcome company. I’m a bit guilty of packing the book into my bag without looking at it twice. In my defense I was in a real big hurry. My first glance at the book was midway through my flight. As usual I turned the book over and read the back of the book first.
‘Family curses don’t exist. Sure, some families seem to suffer more pain than others, but a curse? An actual curse?
I don’t think so.’ A family tragedy was the catalyst for Ian Perkins to return to the isolated cottage with his wife and young son. But now they are back, it seems yet more grief might befall the family.
There is still time to act, but that means Ian must face the uncomfortable truth about his past. And in doing so, he must uncover the truth behind the supposed family curse.
I was apprehensive at first. If I had seen this description at a bookstore I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book. Then being me I decided to give the book a chance and I’m so glad that I did because Broken Branches kept me hooked to the very end.
The book starts out simply enough with a detailed description of the environment that Ian lives in. I love the way M. Jonathan Lee has laid the base for rest of the book by immersing the reader in the environment that the main character lived in. A mention of the curse is thrown in here and there. It is just enough to get you curious but not enough to tell you everything.
I don’t know whether it was just my background in Nursing but the more I read the more I understood the Ian (or I thought I did). The more I understood the character the more I began to understand the amount of work M. Jonathan Lee put into building up the character as part of a victim of a series of events both personal and social.
The book struck numerous chords with me. It touched me to the core because it dealt with loss and grief and how different people deal with it in different ways. Broken Branches is a perfect example of how a human being is a composition of all his experiences in life. It resonates that sometimes the perceived strong people may be weak and perceived weak may be well be strong.
Most importantly Broken Branches touches the subject of mental health without prejudice. That for me was the clincher. Not many authors can teach you life lessons through their stories but M. Jonathan Lee certainly has a knack for it.
I couldn’t put down Broken Branches even if I wanted to. I read it through the journey and I still had a bit of it left over when I touched down. I continued reading it in the taxi and even though it was well past 2 at night, I continued reading the book till the very end. I thought I had the curse figured out in the end but the last few pages just prove me wrong! Love an author who can surprise me!
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