Things We Knew Were True

by Nicci Gerrard

Nicci Gerrard is one half of Nicci French, the highly successful pseudonymous crime novelist created with her husband journalist Sean French. But anyone expecting the tensely wrought psychological thrills of the Nicci French books in Things We Knew Were True, this first novel written under her own name, will be in for something of a surprise. This is a poignant and expressively written narrative of a sensitive schoolgirl, Edie, ill-at-ease with herself, who loses her virginity to a boy from a local council estate and is embarrassed when her father discovers the couple in a compromising state. Later, her father Vic loses his job and endures periods of black depression before committing suicide. Edie finds that she is forced to grow up very quickly, and puts her teenage romance in the past. Decades pass, and Edie's mother dies, bringing back painfully unresolved situations.

This utterly absorbing novel has an acute and perceptive grasp of the tensions of family life, and Nicci Gerrard has a genuine skill in conjuring up the agonies of adolescence. The real achievement of Things We Knew Were True is the handling of the abrupt, enforced changes that take place in Edie's personality and the shadow cast over her life by the death of her father; this is a theme explored with both power and sympathy. While the intensity and danger of the Nicci French books is not to be found here, there is much of the subtle and intelligent observation of human character found in the books of William Trevor, and it's clear that Nicci Gerard has all the possibilities of enjoying separate success as a novelist along with her crime writing achievements with her husband. --Barry Forshaw

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Roman, Novels, Romance, Ebooks, Crime

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Half of the writing team known as Nicci French . Nicci Gerrard & Sean French also write separately.

Gerard still works as a journalist for the Observer, covering high-profile trials.

Novels include Things We Knew Were True (2003), Solace (2005) and The Moment You Were Gone (2007), The Winter House (2009) and Missing Persons (2011).

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things We Knew Were True is a beautiful novel about love and family, loss and grieve. But mainly it is about life.
The writing style is raw and poetical and the story just feels so real and truthful it almost hurts.

Yes, I liked the story of Edie and her two sisters. A lot actually, although it doesn't even seem very extraordinary:
Life for Edie changes the year she falls in love and her father commits suicide.
But only 22 years later, at the age of 39, she is forced to face her past and what really happened then her mother dies. By now she works as a doctor, is happily married and has three children. Meeting again with her sisters she starts to question her life and the choices she made..

I don't think it's the story that makes this novel so special but all the feelings it evokes. The only problem is that maybe I even felt too much while reading. And so having finished this book I was left feeling somehow depressed, distraught and empty. But with a glowing glimpse of hope.

[Nick Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dresser complete with pink flowers, pink lipstick, pink make-up dust and a pink-lined compact mirror. They're all in front of pink wallpaper. The author's name and book title are in a soft font, while the reviews are in- that's right- pink.

Ah! So this is a woman's book, whatever one of those is! Well, no..

So yes, there are a lot of female characters, all dealing with growing pains or the dramas of their twilight years, which perhaps explains the rather hacky marketing of the jacket cover, but there is nothing specifically gendered about what they go through. In fact all the genders in the book could be inverted, scrubbed, or replaced with a commune of homosocial/homosexual individuals, and the story would still make just as much sense.

It's a book that's both depressingly uplifting and upliftingly depressing. A pointless but pointed story of how different generations of the same family make the same mistakes as they embark on the great journey of just living one day after the other.

It's The Crow Road with fewer men and a much smaller ensemble. It's very human and I found it very nourishing.

Nick
xx

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25 sterren - Nederlandse paperback

Nicci Gerard is de vrouwelijke helft van het schrijversduo Nicci French, waar ik een grote fan van ben. In dit boek, komt het psychologische en relationele aspect van de door dit duo geschreven boeken extra naar de voorgrond.

Het verhaal simpel in zijn eenvoud, maar zeer complex in de relationele sfeer van de hoofdpersoon Edie Jennings, voor ons Nederlanders een ongewone meisjes naam.

In haar vroege jeugd had ze een nogal dominante vriend Ricky die haar volledig heerste. Ricky kwam uit een heel ander milieu, uit een volksbuurt. Edie kwam uit een wat betere familie, dus eigenlijk paste ze ook niet zo goed bij elkaar.

Als de familie Jennings vervolgens verhuist, hebben ze geen enkel contact meer. Vele jaren later overlijdt Edie's moeder en komen de drie zussen in het ouderlijk huis om alles op te ruimen.

Edie komt quasi toevallig Ricky tegen en Ricky misbruikt haar op dezelfde dominante manier als in haar jeugd. En dat allemaal zonder dat ze bijzondere gevoelens heeft voor Edie, zegt ze. Ze krijgt spijt, maar hoe moet ze dan verder met de relatie met haar man, waar ze beslist niet van af wilt.

Een zeer herkenbare schrijfstijl van het duo, maar een volledig ander soort boek. En het was dus een verrassing dat ik het zo goed vond.

  

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25 stars - English paperback - I have dyslexia - Thanks Tommy for the read. 😁😁😁

[Hannah Neverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one fell into my life at just the right moment.

[Ann Jannink · Rating 2 out of 5]

Een boek zonder pretenties, om in de vakantie bij het zwembad te lezen. Je denkt steeds:nu zal er wel iets gebeuren met b.v Kit of met Ricky, maar er gebeurt niets. Sommige passages lijken niet echt reëel bv Ricky die zeer dronken op de begrafenis van oma Ellen verschijnt en dan vervolgens een heel coherent verhaal afsteekt. Of de zussen die met nauwelijks enige emotie nog voor de begrafenis van hun 61jarige moeder, waar ze toch echt wel van hielden, haar huis gaan opruimen. Ik verwacht dat ik over een paar dagen al weer vergeten zal zijn waar het over ging.

[Morgane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit is het eerste boek van Nicci Gerard dat ik las. Ik ben fan van Nicci french, maar dit is een heel ander genre. Het is eerder een psychologische roman, en voornamelijk vanuit systeemtherapeutisch oogpunt een boeiend boek. Het leest vlot, ook al is het geen luchtig verhaal.
Het gaat over de verschillende rollen binnen een gezin, hoe je hierdoor gevormd wordt en hoe dit mee de keuzes bepaalt die je in je verdere leven maakt.
Ik las het boek in een periode waarin er ook in mijn systeem vele veranderingen zijn, waardoor het thema ‘verlies van een ouder’ persoonlijk relevant was.

[Els · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mijn eerste boek van deze auteur en ik vond dat er vrij veel opsommingen in voor kwamen. Normaal gesproken hou ik daar niet van maar in dit boek vond ik het wel passen. Toen ik de korte inhoud las en het eerste deel van het boek had ik wel hoge verwachtingen maar er werd niet echt aan voldaan. Ik had begrepen dat er een element spanning zou ingezeten hebben. Blijkbaar heb ik mij daar in vergist. De algemene sfeer van het verhaal is vrij deprimerend en daarom vond ik het tegenvallen.

[Claire Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicci Gerrard is one half of husband and wife writing team “Nicci French” famous for books such as Red Room and Secret Smile. This is the first I’ve read of Nicci writing by herself.

This book doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. In a nutshell it follows one woman and her family through love, loss, tragedy and atonement. It is raw and real and quite poignant. I defy anyone to read this book and not feel emotional.

And if you’ve never read anything by Nicci French, you are missing out!

[Jayne Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A steady-as-you-go tale about sisterly relations, first love and infidelity that goes into a highly satisfying where-are-they-now phase in its second section. It makes you care about the characters, and although I didn't always understand their actions I always wanted to know what would happen. It didn't blow me away, but I enjoyed it.

[Ann Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

When aged 16 Edie falls for Ricky, her parents don`t approve. Something tragic happens in Edie`s life. Edie then has to grow up, get on with her life leaving Ricky behind. She has a successful career, married to a good man and they have three children. Another event takes her back to her childhood routes and once again she meets up with Ricky.

[Jennifer Antulov · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a successful Bildungsroman.
When one is a teenager, becomes an adult, an orphan, and the difficult and easy decisions one makes as people and potential lives are discarded and chosen, relationships within a family and the impacts according to how these factors interact are the stuff of this intriguing and, I would say, sad novel. I found it easy to read.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

With its acutely observed characters, its psychologically credible insights into human behaviour, relationships and how people deal with grief and loss, I found this a very satisfying and thought-provoking story to read ... and was pleased that a friend recommended it so strongly because I know that I would otherwise have been put off by the very pink, 'girly' cover.

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. There can’t be many of us who have never forgotten our first love and Nicci Gerrard has captured it beautifully. Edie’s first love Ricky remained in her thoughts for over 20 years after a tragedy tore them apart.

When circumstances brought them together again common sense went out the window and I am sure we can relate to that too. A good read indeed.

[Klaartje Hellebaut · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Mum’s boeken pt. 4) Het thema van het boek is zwaar en emotioneel geladen maar wordt op een toegankelijke manier gebracht. Ik vond het heel eenvoudig geschreven waardoor het vlot leest maar ik blijf een beetje op mijn honger zitten qua verhaal. Desalniettemin, onderwerpen om eens extra over na te denken of bij stil te staan.

[Margaret Duke-Wyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this novel about Evde and her family, both as a 17 year old then as a 40 year old with her own family. The characterisation was excellent, I really got involved with them. So much so, that I am still worried about her son, Kit.

Good structure, great plot. Unassuming but oddly powerful.

[Mieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. It’s about people making mistakes in their lives and still moving on. It’s a sad story and an eye opener if you are open to deal with the past no matter how difficult it has been.
Important life lessons !

[Guy Devreker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stationsroman. Soms vraag ik mij af waar auteurs hun populariteit aan te danken hebben...

[Thumeka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book.

[Lysbeth Van Valkenburg-Lely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haar detectives vind ik aardiger maar dit is best om tijdens de vakantie te lezen.

[Bluerubine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't matter what The Guardian or Daily Mail say, not my taste. It's hard to believe such books existed. It was so boring that it took me two months to read it!

[Lotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blijft veilig aan de oppervlakte, er worden naar mijn mening geen serieuze pogingen gedaan om de complexiteit van familierelaties en rouwverwerking bloot te leggen.

[SolangeMaria Vandamme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een tof boek over hoe het verleden indruk heeft op het heden . Over vergeven zonder te vergeten

[Elizabeth Coley]

I really enjoyed this book, believable characters and a satisfying ending.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Susanne Beyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zu sentimental für meinen Geschmack. Als Krimiautorin gefällt mir Nicci Gerrard wesentlich besser.

[Brechje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geen idee.

[Anouk Verniers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over vergeven zonder vergeten.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the dutch version called: De Onderstroom. ISBN 978-90-4800-171-2

[Muisjemama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mein zweites und letztes Buch von Nicci Gerrard.