Don’t Close Your Eyes
by Holly Seddon
Corvus

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Robyn and Sarah are twins but they are very different. In the last year of primary school, their lives took vastly different tracks when their parents split up and took one twin each to their new domestic arrangements.

Present day Robyn is house-bound and fearful of the world outside her cosy Manchester apartment that she hasn’t left for years.

Money isn’t a problem for the ex-rock star but panic attacks are. Robyn has a very structured life and watches the lives of the people in surrounding flats.

Money is a problem for Sarah who has been evicted from her perfect home by partner Jim and is frantic about not being able to see her daughter Violet.

Although it has been twenty years since the sisters were together, Sarah’s only hope to sort out her life is that her sister will open her door and let her in. As the present day story develops, flashbacks to their childhood as well as more recent events help solve some of the mysteries

It is a don’t-put-down narrative. The discoveries become more and more astounding and there’s an undercurrent of violence that puts the reader on edge as they desperately try to piece together the pieces of shattered lives.

Robyn has “learned just how much can fall away and fall to pieces when she closes her eyes.” Looking back on their lives enables both girls to see more clearly but it is the present day dangers that need to be confronted in order to survive.

Lezly Herbert