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Claire's Cell
Claire wakes beside her husband with a bloodied knife on their kitchen floor. He’s dead, her prints are everywhere, and she has no memory of what happened. The defense—sleepwalking. But jury's out—she's a murderer. Life at the most notorious prison in the country begins. Inside, among murderers and guards, memories crowd her cell of that last night, her sister's disappearance, and her mother's frightening behavior.
Her new neighbors terrify her, but within the cold cement walls, a unique friend emerges. It’s odd to find a good friend so quickly. And it’s hard to trust her neighbors. As Claire struggles to fit in and survive, icy memories of her childhood collide with the present. It is still unknown what happened to her little sister all those years ago. What parts did she forget, what do others want her to forget, and is she a murderer?
She starts to remember.
Her new neighbors terrify her, but within the cold cement walls, a unique friend emerges. It’s odd to find a good friend so quickly. And it’s hard to trust her neighbors. As Claire struggles to fit in and survive, icy memories of her childhood collide with the present. It is still unknown what happened to her little sister all those years ago. What parts did she forget, what do others want her to forget, and is she a murderer?
She starts to remember.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 21, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 24, 2021
Is she innocent?
Claire’s cell is destined to be her home for the next 35 years, convicted of a murder she believes she committed. Believes, because she has no memory of the event, but she knows she sleepwalked as a child, she knows she’s on medication which distorts action and dulls feeling. She may have had a chance, if her mother had not lied at her trial. But her mother is an unreliable witness to life generally these days, since Claire’s little sister disappeared at age 5 all those years ago.
KC Ridge has a wonderful ability to make her characters spring off the page. I felt Claire’s desperate confusion and was on the edge of my seat as hints, bits, jigsaw pieces melded into some semblance of clarity. Enough to go on. I was both desperately sorry for and also despised the frail, self-centred mother, and my heart ached for the poor father trying to keep it all together. The gaol inmates, the psychiatrist, the prison guards – they all came alive with their own stories and tragedies.
The way in which Ridge teased out the mystery was masterful, so that by the end I knew why certain things had been niggling at me – a sure sign that sufficient seeds were planted that the ‘surprise’ ending felt right.
An excellent read.
Claire’s cell is destined to be her home for the next 35 years, convicted of a murder she believes she committed. Believes, because she has no memory of the event, but she knows she sleepwalked as a child, she knows she’s on medication which distorts action and dulls feeling. She may have had a chance, if her mother had not lied at her trial. But her mother is an unreliable witness to life generally these days, since Claire’s little sister disappeared at age 5 all those years ago.
KC Ridge has a wonderful ability to make her characters spring off the page. I felt Claire’s desperate confusion and was on the edge of my seat as hints, bits, jigsaw pieces melded into some semblance of clarity. Enough to go on. I was both desperately sorry for and also despised the frail, self-centred mother, and my heart ached for the poor father trying to keep it all together. The gaol inmates, the psychiatrist, the prison guards – they all came alive with their own stories and tragedies.
The way in which Ridge teased out the mystery was masterful, so that by the end I knew why certain things had been niggling at me – a sure sign that sufficient seeds were planted that the ‘surprise’ ending felt right.
An excellent read.
February 27, 2022
A haunting addict’s journey to truth.
Book Club read: Addicted to pain medicine, Claire is cast into a women’s prison, humiliated and confused, and unable to remember the night of her husband’s murder when they found her with the bloody knife, lost, baffled and unable to defend herself. At first prison intensifies her mental muddle and she struggles to deal with her past. The good and the bad come out in flashbacks, and the reader learns of Claire’s difficult past with her mother, the tragic loss of a sister and the mysterious murder of her husband.
The author does a masterful job of depicting the struggles of adult children of mentally ill parents, as well as providing insight into the challenges of long-term inmates institutionalized for violent crimes. “Everyone starts to blend in with the concrete in here,” Claire tells us as she slowly weans herself of the drug addiction and becomes more coherent and aware of herself. The book is, as the author tells us, “an ode to the insane,” and we follow Claire’s journey to uncover the truth about her past, the murder, her mother and the lost sister that tore that tore their family apart.
KC Ridge has a solid writing style with unique images and insights: “Why do half-offers from unresponsive people always elicit the greatest reaction?” Claire describes how her father placates her mother’s loss of appetite: “…my dad had put out the sunflower seeds around the house, as though he was trying to entice some exotic bird who had stopped eating.” We readers really feel the confusion of a teenager dealing with a collapsing mother’ sanity, her anorexic behavior, her suicide attempts and her willingness to blame her remaining child for every perceived slight. Claire internalizes everything and it is prison that ultimately helps her sort it all out... Once Claire gets her addiction controlled, the mental cloud that has befuddled her lifts, and she sees more of her fellow inmates, more of herself and finally breaks through the mystery that has surrounded her since the traumatic night of the murder.
Overall, once Claire loses her friend Floey and the she remembers the critical clue to solve her mystery, the pace of the narrative picks up and the story wraps up quickly, and despite the melancholy beginning, it does have a happy ending—I wish there had been a little more foreshadowing of the ultimate solution to the mystery earlier in the book because it still felt like a "Deus ex Machina" conclusion, but overall this was an excellent read and I do recommend it.
Book Club read: Addicted to pain medicine, Claire is cast into a women’s prison, humiliated and confused, and unable to remember the night of her husband’s murder when they found her with the bloody knife, lost, baffled and unable to defend herself. At first prison intensifies her mental muddle and she struggles to deal with her past. The good and the bad come out in flashbacks, and the reader learns of Claire’s difficult past with her mother, the tragic loss of a sister and the mysterious murder of her husband.
The author does a masterful job of depicting the struggles of adult children of mentally ill parents, as well as providing insight into the challenges of long-term inmates institutionalized for violent crimes. “Everyone starts to blend in with the concrete in here,” Claire tells us as she slowly weans herself of the drug addiction and becomes more coherent and aware of herself. The book is, as the author tells us, “an ode to the insane,” and we follow Claire’s journey to uncover the truth about her past, the murder, her mother and the lost sister that tore that tore their family apart.
KC Ridge has a solid writing style with unique images and insights: “Why do half-offers from unresponsive people always elicit the greatest reaction?” Claire describes how her father placates her mother’s loss of appetite: “…my dad had put out the sunflower seeds around the house, as though he was trying to entice some exotic bird who had stopped eating.” We readers really feel the confusion of a teenager dealing with a collapsing mother’ sanity, her anorexic behavior, her suicide attempts and her willingness to blame her remaining child for every perceived slight. Claire internalizes everything and it is prison that ultimately helps her sort it all out... Once Claire gets her addiction controlled, the mental cloud that has befuddled her lifts, and she sees more of her fellow inmates, more of herself and finally breaks through the mystery that has surrounded her since the traumatic night of the murder.
Overall, once Claire loses her friend Floey and the she remembers the critical clue to solve her mystery, the pace of the narrative picks up and the story wraps up quickly, and despite the melancholy beginning, it does have a happy ending—I wish there had been a little more foreshadowing of the ultimate solution to the mystery earlier in the book because it still felt like a "Deus ex Machina" conclusion, but overall this was an excellent read and I do recommend it.
March 25, 2022
Claire’s Cell is packed with intense, psychologically challenging themes. Addiction; loss; grief; parental mental illness; isolation; desperation. Yet these are placed with care in a story with vivid characterisation.
Claire is convicted of a crime but her memory of the night in question is absent. Interwoven with the story of her conviction are snippets of personal growth during therapy sessions and real, steadfast friendships developed with fellow prisoners.
Along the way, Claire reflects on her troubled relationship with her mother, and the disappearance of her own sister, aged 4. The two tales come together in a clever and unexpected conclusion. I loved the way the author gave us fully fleshed characters - even within the many side characters - so that we truly felt present in the prison, and that although the story is dark and sometimes bleak, we were left with a glimpse of the future to come. Well done.
Claire is convicted of a crime but her memory of the night in question is absent. Interwoven with the story of her conviction are snippets of personal growth during therapy sessions and real, steadfast friendships developed with fellow prisoners.
Along the way, Claire reflects on her troubled relationship with her mother, and the disappearance of her own sister, aged 4. The two tales come together in a clever and unexpected conclusion. I loved the way the author gave us fully fleshed characters - even within the many side characters - so that we truly felt present in the prison, and that although the story is dark and sometimes bleak, we were left with a glimpse of the future to come. Well done.
March 5, 2022
I loved this book. It is a real page turner. The author's ability to draw you into the setting and inside the main characters thoughts is chilling. The writing is tight, descriptive, and real. On top of an intriguing mystery, it gives insight into addiction, mental illness, and life inside a prison. I read it in two days. Couldn't put it down.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews