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The Unwilding
A stunning new novel of power, desire and the secrets all families carry, from the acclaimed author of Nightingale, Marina Kemp.
When fledgling writer Zoe arrives at the Sicilian holiday home of famed novelist Don Travers, she feels that she has made it. And yet as the week unfolds it is not Don but his children and unknowable wife, Lydia, who come to intrigue Zoe most. On the fringes, Don’s youngest, Nemony, watches as her older siblings begin to navigate the treacherous waters of the adult world. When her adored oldest sister makes a terrible mistake, the holiday ends suddenly, shattering the fragile balance of their parents’ marriage and the siblings’ lives.
Many years later and in the wake of loss, the events of that summer continue to haunt. Nemony, now a lonely new mother herself, strikes up a chance friendship with Zoe. With her support, Nemony attempts to grapple with the casual damage enacted by her father. But as their relationship deepens, she is soon forced to question the true extent of Zoe’s fascination with the Travers family.
Tracing their lives through Sicily, London and the old mining towns of Appalachia, Nemony must uncover the stories untold – about her implacable father, her troubled mother, and the siblings she might still do anything for.
When fledgling writer Zoe arrives at the Sicilian holiday home of famed novelist Don Travers, she feels that she has made it. And yet as the week unfolds it is not Don but his children and unknowable wife, Lydia, who come to intrigue Zoe most. On the fringes, Don’s youngest, Nemony, watches as her older siblings begin to navigate the treacherous waters of the adult world. When her adored oldest sister makes a terrible mistake, the holiday ends suddenly, shattering the fragile balance of their parents’ marriage and the siblings’ lives.
Many years later and in the wake of loss, the events of that summer continue to haunt. Nemony, now a lonely new mother herself, strikes up a chance friendship with Zoe. With her support, Nemony attempts to grapple with the casual damage enacted by her father. But as their relationship deepens, she is soon forced to question the true extent of Zoe’s fascination with the Travers family.
Tracing their lives through Sicily, London and the old mining towns of Appalachia, Nemony must uncover the stories untold – about her implacable father, her troubled mother, and the siblings she might still do anything for.
404 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2024
537 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 271 reviews
August 26, 2024
Woah this was GOOD! The Unwilding is a book that delves into grief, trauma, motherhood, power, family, art, and the question of who has the right to tell a story. You might think that’s too many themes for 400 pages, but the execution was absolutely brilliant. I had no idea where the story was headed, and I found the resolution both surprising and deeply sorrowful.
March 31, 2025
2.5⭐️
Romanas, patiksiantis tiems, kurie mėgsta lėtesnius, klampesnius ir permąstymų reiklaujančius kūrinius. Jei pirma knygos dalis skaitėsi visai padoriai, antra kiek išsitęsė ir buvo nuobodoka. Kad suprastumėte: pirmoje kalbama apie šeimos praeitį, kurioje pagrindiniai veikėjai buvo vaikai arba labai jauni. Tą vieną jų vasarą nutiko dalykas, kurio pasekmes pajaučia visi veikėjai, o antroje knygos dalyje apie jas ir skaitome.
Bohemiška šeima su visomis nuodėmėmis ir kitokiu gyvenimo stiliumi. Susiraizgę mėilės trikampiai ir keturkampiai. Ilgas ryšių ir padarytų klaidų nagrinėjimas. Noras keistis ir atrasti savo šaknis. Gedulas ir motinystė. Daug čia temų, bet vis tiek skaitėsi ne itin įdomiai, ypač antroji dalis...
Romanas, patiksiantis tiems, kurie mėgsta lėtesnius, klampesnius ir permąstymų reiklaujančius kūrinius. Jei pirma knygos dalis skaitėsi visai padoriai, antra kiek išsitęsė ir buvo nuobodoka. Kad suprastumėte: pirmoje kalbama apie šeimos praeitį, kurioje pagrindiniai veikėjai buvo vaikai arba labai jauni. Tą vieną jų vasarą nutiko dalykas, kurio pasekmes pajaučia visi veikėjai, o antroje knygos dalyje apie jas ir skaitome.
Bohemiška šeima su visomis nuodėmėmis ir kitokiu gyvenimo stiliumi. Susiraizgę mėilės trikampiai ir keturkampiai. Ilgas ryšių ir padarytų klaidų nagrinėjimas. Noras keistis ir atrasti savo šaknis. Gedulas ir motinystė. Daug čia temų, bet vis tiek skaitėsi ne itin įdomiai, ypač antroji dalis...
September 29, 2024
This book didn’t know what it wanted to be. It’s basically two books in one, but none of them done properly.
The first is the classic rich people on holiday in Southern Europe setting where they get up to shenanigans and loads of dark family secrets get exposed. Pretty cliche, sure, there’s loads of these out there, but it’s a tried and tested formula for a reason and Kemp is a good author who could’ve made it work.
And then the second book is about motherhood and women struggling with it. I get the sense that’s what she really wanted to write about, but it wouldn’t have been fancy enough and you probably lose some of the audience (e.g. me) who don’t really give a shit about yet another book about women making being a mother their entire personality.
Kemp combined these two and it just fundamentally doesn’t work.
The characters are also not as fascinating as everyone within the story keeps insisting they are. They’re all just pretentious brats pretty much.
My main issue is on the motherhood side of the book though. Now, I know you’ll role your eyes, but the fact that this book somehow managed to not tackle the extremely obvious toxic misogynistic worldview underlying how shit the mothers in this book are treated is wild. Like, yeah not every novel about modern mothers needs to be all about capital F Feminism, but the fact that this story didn’t deal with it AT ALL made me feel like I was losing my mind. The attitudes towards motherhood (displayed by the women themselves, not even speaking of the terrible fathers) are so atrociously antiquated that I’d convinced myself this was taking place in the 60s until the main character at one point sends an email and I was just like… ugh.
It’s super similar to The Whispers in that way, another book where all I could do was be baffled at how the women in their roles as mothers were written.
The only woman in this story who deviated from this was the secondary narrator, Zoe, who abandons her kids for her career, clearly a knowing inversion of how some men just walk away from their families as if they never existed. It’s an interesting tidbit, the poignancy of which gets destroyed by the main character, Nemony, being scandalised by this without picking up on the fact that the father of her own child is in the process of doing the exact same thing as Zoe. Now, I know Kemp understands and wants to show us the irony of this, but by not having Nemony reach the same conclusion she just comes across as a complete idiot. And why should I have to suffer through a whole book from the perspective of a complete idiot?
Okay, rant over.
Conclusion: pro - well written. Cons - needed to pick a lane with regards to what story it was more interested in telling. Oh and the missing feminism (lol).
The first is the classic rich people on holiday in Southern Europe setting where they get up to shenanigans and loads of dark family secrets get exposed. Pretty cliche, sure, there’s loads of these out there, but it’s a tried and tested formula for a reason and Kemp is a good author who could’ve made it work.
And then the second book is about motherhood and women struggling with it. I get the sense that’s what she really wanted to write about, but it wouldn’t have been fancy enough and you probably lose some of the audience (e.g. me) who don’t really give a shit about yet another book about women making being a mother their entire personality.
Kemp combined these two and it just fundamentally doesn’t work.
The characters are also not as fascinating as everyone within the story keeps insisting they are. They’re all just pretentious brats pretty much.
My main issue is on the motherhood side of the book though. Now, I know you’ll role your eyes, but the fact that this book somehow managed to not tackle the extremely obvious toxic misogynistic worldview underlying how shit the mothers in this book are treated is wild. Like, yeah not every novel about modern mothers needs to be all about capital F Feminism, but the fact that this story didn’t deal with it AT ALL made me feel like I was losing my mind. The attitudes towards motherhood (displayed by the women themselves, not even speaking of the terrible fathers) are so atrociously antiquated that I’d convinced myself this was taking place in the 60s until the main character at one point sends an email and I was just like… ugh.
It’s super similar to The Whispers in that way, another book where all I could do was be baffled at how the women in their roles as mothers were written.
The only woman in this story who deviated from this was the secondary narrator, Zoe, who abandons her kids for her career, clearly a knowing inversion of how some men just walk away from their families as if they never existed. It’s an interesting tidbit, the poignancy of which gets destroyed by the main character, Nemony, being scandalised by this without picking up on the fact that the father of her own child is in the process of doing the exact same thing as Zoe. Now, I know Kemp understands and wants to show us the irony of this, but by not having Nemony reach the same conclusion she just comes across as a complete idiot. And why should I have to suffer through a whole book from the perspective of a complete idiot?
Okay, rant over.
Conclusion: pro - well written. Cons - needed to pick a lane with regards to what story it was more interested in telling. Oh and the missing feminism (lol).
September 11, 2024
I genuinely don’t understand all the praise about this book.
As much as I enjoy stories of complex family dynamics exploring relationships between father and daughter and between siblings, after a promising beginning, the story quickly lost steam and became not only forgettable but also annoying.
Maybe, my biggest issue here is that the characters and events were not fully believable - the father and the mother couldn’t have been more different, there were so many people in this house, it just felt very odd, the events that took place were not that interesting or maybe the writing didn’t make them seem interesting enough for me to care and all the “dark family secrets” felt cliché and fell flat. Each character appeared cold and distant and fake and in the end made the entire novel taste like cold bland soup.
By the end, I actually felt quite depressed by everyone’s behaviour - and bored.
As much as I enjoy stories of complex family dynamics exploring relationships between father and daughter and between siblings, after a promising beginning, the story quickly lost steam and became not only forgettable but also annoying.
Maybe, my biggest issue here is that the characters and events were not fully believable - the father and the mother couldn’t have been more different, there were so many people in this house, it just felt very odd, the events that took place were not that interesting or maybe the writing didn’t make them seem interesting enough for me to care and all the “dark family secrets” felt cliché and fell flat. Each character appeared cold and distant and fake and in the end made the entire novel taste like cold bland soup.
By the end, I actually felt quite depressed by everyone’s behaviour - and bored.
Read
May 1, 2024this was such an unexpected love!! so evocative, I loved flipping between the two narrators and slowly realising the unreliability of their perspectives. I was hanging on every word at one point, desperate to know how each loose thread would find its way.
thank you NetGalley and 4th Estate for the proof copy
thank you NetGalley and 4th Estate for the proof copy
August 17, 2025
‘Unbelievably good!’ Definitely in my top 5 of all time. Wow! I need to think about this for a while and collect my thoughts. Marina, you are exceptional.
August 11, 2025
A story depicted in 2 voices.
Zoe, a writer, goes to Sicily on holidays invited by Don, an older (famous) writer. There she spends a week at a villa with other guests, friends and influential people, and his family, his silent wife who cooks the meals for everybody and his 4 kids that go around wild and neglected by their father.
Nemony, the youngest, is the other narrator, showing us a perspective from inside of her family.
I could go British and say that this was interesting, but the reality is that I didn’t really enjoy the plot and the writing was not enough to get me to care about any of the characters. It was a bit too much unnecessary drama for my taste.
Coincidentally, these days I’m also listening to an audiobook about cults and how people are influenced to join, stay and then find it so hard to leave. It’s been a good companion to this one.
Zoe, a writer, goes to Sicily on holidays invited by Don, an older (famous) writer. There she spends a week at a villa with other guests, friends and influential people, and his family, his silent wife who cooks the meals for everybody and his 4 kids that go around wild and neglected by their father.
Nemony, the youngest, is the other narrator, showing us a perspective from inside of her family.
I could go British and say that this was interesting, but the reality is that I didn’t really enjoy the plot and the writing was not enough to get me to care about any of the characters. It was a bit too much unnecessary drama for my taste.
Coincidentally, these days I’m also listening to an audiobook about cults and how people are influenced to join, stay and then find it so hard to leave. It’s been a good companion to this one.
August 13, 2024
DNF 46%
I genuinely don’t understand all the praise about this book. It’s certainly not badly written but it’s so boring and cliché. The characters don’t strike me as interesting as they desperately trying to be, it’s rather pretentious. I just don’t care enough to read another 200 pages about this bland, privileged family.
I genuinely don’t understand all the praise about this book. It’s certainly not badly written but it’s so boring and cliché. The characters don’t strike me as interesting as they desperately trying to be, it’s rather pretentious. I just don’t care enough to read another 200 pages about this bland, privileged family.
September 29, 2024
I loved Marina Kemp’s debut novel Nightingale set in the south of France about a nurse who comes to care for an elderly man and becomes involved with one of his sons. Marina Kemp was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 2020 for it.
The Unwilding is her follow-up novel and it’s a rich and interesting tale told in three parts, and set in Sicily, London and Appalachia. It’s about writer and patriarch Don Travers, a bon viveur and narcissistic type who invites young writers to stay in his young family’s rambling summer villa in Sicily.
Don’s wife Lydia, and two of his daughters Tree and Nemony are at the centre of the novel, though Lydia says almost nothing, including to those closest to her. Her reasons for this become known as the story is told. Zoe is a young writer invited to stay with the family in Sicily who begins to pull the threads of the family’s story many years later.
I found easily the weakest part of the book to be the London chapters, the story dragged a bit here in the middle, but overall this was a beautifully written and compelling literary family drama that I enjoyed and missed when I finished it.
The first third of the book is the strongest, with a sultry setting in Sicily and the innocence of childhood captured so well in Nemony’s chapters. It’s melancholy and sad, not a happy summer read, and a slow burn, but it’s poignant and memorable with really well-drawn characters. The book within a book trope works really doesn’t always work, but it shines here. Atonement vibes (which is high praise obviously). 4/5⭐️
The Unwilding is her follow-up novel and it’s a rich and interesting tale told in three parts, and set in Sicily, London and Appalachia. It’s about writer and patriarch Don Travers, a bon viveur and narcissistic type who invites young writers to stay in his young family’s rambling summer villa in Sicily.
Don’s wife Lydia, and two of his daughters Tree and Nemony are at the centre of the novel, though Lydia says almost nothing, including to those closest to her. Her reasons for this become known as the story is told. Zoe is a young writer invited to stay with the family in Sicily who begins to pull the threads of the family’s story many years later.
I found easily the weakest part of the book to be the London chapters, the story dragged a bit here in the middle, but overall this was a beautifully written and compelling literary family drama that I enjoyed and missed when I finished it.
The first third of the book is the strongest, with a sultry setting in Sicily and the innocence of childhood captured so well in Nemony’s chapters. It’s melancholy and sad, not a happy summer read, and a slow burn, but it’s poignant and memorable with really well-drawn characters. The book within a book trope works really doesn’t always work, but it shines here. Atonement vibes (which is high praise obviously). 4/5⭐️
January 1, 2025
Loved, loved, loved the first part 5*++++ but the second part of the book was totally lacking in originality or even human interest. So disappointing as I thought I'd discovered a new exciting author.
August 11, 2024
I devoured this book.
I found it was almost redolent of so much literature I have enjoyed, thinking Bitter Orange (Claire Fuller) for the immersion of a hot Italian summer, The Exhibitionist (Charlotte Mendelson) for the powerfully selfish paterfamilias and Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver) for the realities of Appalachian life. Dysfunctional families, too many to mention!
The story alternates between two perspectives Nemony daughter of Don Travis and Zoe who has been unexpectedly invited into the holiday home of svengali Travis. The first a young child as the book opens encountering Zoe, a very young adult being welcomed into the elite literati of Don Travis. The story follows through the piecing together of that summer, the fallout and the unravelling twenty + years later.
The joy for me was the brilliant characterisation and the craft with which Kemp built each individual. I find family perspectives on events completely fascinating. Each seeing their own piecemeal truth from what they already know and don't know giving the reader a mosaic of unreliable narrators.
Whilst I did not find the ending unexpected or a twist in the tale, it really did not matter because I had been assembling my own "truths" from the breadcrumb trails. Loved it!
With thanks to #NetGally #WilliamCollins and #FourthEstate for allowing me to read and review
I found it was almost redolent of so much literature I have enjoyed, thinking Bitter Orange (Claire Fuller) for the immersion of a hot Italian summer, The Exhibitionist (Charlotte Mendelson) for the powerfully selfish paterfamilias and Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver) for the realities of Appalachian life. Dysfunctional families, too many to mention!
The story alternates between two perspectives Nemony daughter of Don Travis and Zoe who has been unexpectedly invited into the holiday home of svengali Travis. The first a young child as the book opens encountering Zoe, a very young adult being welcomed into the elite literati of Don Travis. The story follows through the piecing together of that summer, the fallout and the unravelling twenty + years later.
The joy for me was the brilliant characterisation and the craft with which Kemp built each individual. I find family perspectives on events completely fascinating. Each seeing their own piecemeal truth from what they already know and don't know giving the reader a mosaic of unreliable narrators.
Whilst I did not find the ending unexpected or a twist in the tale, it really did not matter because I had been assembling my own "truths" from the breadcrumb trails. Loved it!
With thanks to #NetGally #WilliamCollins and #FourthEstate for allowing me to read and review
March 23, 2025
Such a gripping, deep and beautifully written story about motherhood, art, family, generational trauma and sisterhood. I felt very close to the characters (maybe a bit less to the elder Zoe), though I'd have wished to see more of Tree. And the whole first part in sicily, you could taste that summer on your tongue.
March 20, 2025
3.75 ⭐️
October 21, 2025
5 / Who amongst us is a reliable narrator? Is what we’ve experienced and think we know, all there is to it? Definitely not!
Atmospheric, detailed writing overlaid with the tension of youth, adulthood, finding your place in family and the world, self worth and motherhood.
Zoe Goodison, Nemony and Tree Travers’ stories take us to Sicily, London and Appalachia as they each piece together different parts of their past from their own points of view.
The story opens in Sicily in a rambling villa for the summer. Marina’s writing evokes the imagery vividly and you feel like you are right there with the Travers family and their elite guests. Unsure of Don’s motives when he extended the invitation to join them, Zoe feels like an imposter, and although grateful for the influential introductions, she finds herself more intrigued by his family.
There are many layers to that week in Sicily, which have lasting effects on them all. Overlapping pieces are revealed to us which build and we get a fuller picture along with the characters.
There are some darker parts from the past revealed with some overbearing patriarchal figures, nothing, I’m sure that has not been written about before, some may find it cliched but I found it and the writing superlative, endearing, poignant and well worth it.
Once I had finished and the secrets were revealed I found myself wanting to read it again to follow the nuances I know Marina has worked carefully on, including the way she has written about Zoe writing a novel within this novel.
Below are a few of my favourites
“Another hidden crack in the floorboards I tramped on.”
“I see that short summer like a little pocket of something approaching lightness even carelessness, the dark rocks above us lifted just a little fraction.”
“There was a kind of conscious cruelty in my indifference, something I didn’t recognise in myself. I respected it. We don’t have to remain attached to people, I was starting to think.”
“He smiled sagely at me, in that way he could when he wanted to be generous and polite. He could switch it on, just a hint of twinkle in the eye, to convey warmth.”
“Writing is your God.”
5 ⭐️ Audiobook read by Sally Scott
Atmospheric, detailed writing overlaid with the tension of youth, adulthood, finding your place in family and the world, self worth and motherhood.
Zoe Goodison, Nemony and Tree Travers’ stories take us to Sicily, London and Appalachia as they each piece together different parts of their past from their own points of view.
The story opens in Sicily in a rambling villa for the summer. Marina’s writing evokes the imagery vividly and you feel like you are right there with the Travers family and their elite guests. Unsure of Don’s motives when he extended the invitation to join them, Zoe feels like an imposter, and although grateful for the influential introductions, she finds herself more intrigued by his family.
There are many layers to that week in Sicily, which have lasting effects on them all. Overlapping pieces are revealed to us which build and we get a fuller picture along with the characters.
There are some darker parts from the past revealed with some overbearing patriarchal figures, nothing, I’m sure that has not been written about before, some may find it cliched but I found it and the writing superlative, endearing, poignant and well worth it.
Once I had finished and the secrets were revealed I found myself wanting to read it again to follow the nuances I know Marina has worked carefully on, including the way she has written about Zoe writing a novel within this novel.
Below are a few of my favourites
“Another hidden crack in the floorboards I tramped on.”
“I see that short summer like a little pocket of something approaching lightness even carelessness, the dark rocks above us lifted just a little fraction.”
“There was a kind of conscious cruelty in my indifference, something I didn’t recognise in myself. I respected it. We don’t have to remain attached to people, I was starting to think.”
“He smiled sagely at me, in that way he could when he wanted to be generous and polite. He could switch it on, just a hint of twinkle in the eye, to convey warmth.”
“Writing is your God.”
5 ⭐️ Audiobook read by Sally Scott
October 6, 2025
Really glad I picked this up! Such an interesting novel about power, sibling dynamics, and who has the right to tell a story. Also, I’m such a sucker for anything set in an Italian Villa over summer.
September 7, 2025
I went into this book knowing almost nothing about it, but it was incredibly moving, intense and gripping. There’s hints of King Lear throughout, and the exploration of tortured family dynamics is both excruciating and entertaining. Motherhood is also a major theme in this novel, and I found myself getting a bit stressed at the way certain characters dealt with it. There are plenty of twists in the story, but really it is the fascinating, layered characters that make this novel great. I can highly recommend it, with the caveat that it does deal with some difficult themes, including sexual violence and child abuse, and is certainly not for everyone.
October 4, 2025
Een boek dat ik traag maar graag gelezen heb. Er zit zoveel in dit verhaal en het is sterk geschreven. Het hele boek lang hangt er een bepaalde onderhuidse spanning die ik maar moeilijk van me af kon schudden.
April 10, 2025
I really enjoyed this and I’m surprised I haven’t come across Marina Kemp’s work before. It started off well-written and compelling but got progressively richer as it went on, and each of the characters were revealed to be more complex than first imagined (I think one of the best things about this book is that the characters are all so empathetic but also pretty dislikable). The reflections on motherhood were well-drawn. And this was cleverly plotted with a whiff of crime fiction about it — a page-turner!
September 14, 2025
There was a quote in the book about a fictional book that actually ended up summarising my thoughts about this one: “You know, a small handful of suffering characters.” Felt like a slog and not sure if it was the book or just having a busy few weeks where I couldn’t get properly into it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 9, 2025
First bookclub read🤯 very average for me, I liked the writing style but didn't really connect with the characters and the story was very slow/not enough dramz for me... going to have to think of some smarter sounding literary analysis before tomorrow
August 20, 2024
the main thing I took away from this book was the different ways in which men have the option to avoid being fathers whereas as women are locked into motherhood, which was a bummer
June 5, 2025
Maybe a 4.5- really good
June 11, 2025
I loved the writing and the idea of the story a lot. I did expect something completely different based on the summary of the book but that's okay. I liked the four different parts, they did feel like four different books though.
August 12, 2025
4.5 stars
August 3, 2025
I loved the style of the writing in this book! I found that and the storyline to be unique and fresh. It had a mature voice and it felt almost chic? I actually feel the blurb mis-sold the book because I was expecting more gossip but I’m okay with that because it played into the themes of the book. I was just fascinated by this read.
August 28, 2025
More a 2.5 I think - although an easy read I did find it rather forgettable and the story line a bit cliche!
May 20, 2025
Many readers might be drawn to this novel in a bookshop initially because of its beautiful cover but don’t be fooled - this novel cuts deep into the world of creativity.
Set across two narratives, the reader finds themselves in Sicily with the eclectic Travers family, headed by their father Don. The patriarch is a bestselling novelist and the great and the good from the literary world pass through his home, which he shares with his wife, daughters and a son.
At first we read about the family as they enjoy their annual summer trip to Sicily where we meet our two narrators. Nemony, is one of Don’s daughters, while Zoe is an up-and-coming writer for whom it is not clear whether Don’s interest is platonic or sexual.
Following that fateful summer, we skip 20 years into the future and meet Nemony, now a new mother living in London and Zoe, who has continued to write but feels resentment towards Don for a perceived slight years before.
I don’t want to give too much away in this book so won’t go too much further into the plot. I listened to the book on audio, so I’m not sure if it would have been different if I had physically read it, but I found it hard to follow at certain points. It wasn’t until the book really got into the friendship with Zoe and Nemony that it got more interesting.
The Unwilding is a book which looks at the creative process, what it means to be a writer and where we take inspiration from, asking are there occasions where we overstep the mark in where we seek ideas from? It also looks at the literary world, what it means to have a bestseller and to be invited into the illustrious sector. How do creative people separate their reality from fiction?
I found both Nemony and Zoe really interesting characters to follow and really enjoyed reading about women who were complex, flawed and brave in their own way.
Set across two narratives, the reader finds themselves in Sicily with the eclectic Travers family, headed by their father Don. The patriarch is a bestselling novelist and the great and the good from the literary world pass through his home, which he shares with his wife, daughters and a son.
At first we read about the family as they enjoy their annual summer trip to Sicily where we meet our two narrators. Nemony, is one of Don’s daughters, while Zoe is an up-and-coming writer for whom it is not clear whether Don’s interest is platonic or sexual.
Following that fateful summer, we skip 20 years into the future and meet Nemony, now a new mother living in London and Zoe, who has continued to write but feels resentment towards Don for a perceived slight years before.
I don’t want to give too much away in this book so won’t go too much further into the plot. I listened to the book on audio, so I’m not sure if it would have been different if I had physically read it, but I found it hard to follow at certain points. It wasn’t until the book really got into the friendship with Zoe and Nemony that it got more interesting.
The Unwilding is a book which looks at the creative process, what it means to be a writer and where we take inspiration from, asking are there occasions where we overstep the mark in where we seek ideas from? It also looks at the literary world, what it means to have a bestseller and to be invited into the illustrious sector. How do creative people separate their reality from fiction?
I found both Nemony and Zoe really interesting characters to follow and really enjoyed reading about women who were complex, flawed and brave in their own way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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