The Truth Series by Elaine May

Both books from the series, all beautifully packaged and read for your enjoyment and when I say enjoyment I have no doubt that that is exactly what you will get when you turn over the first page, because I enjoyed it from start to finish.

I am going to review this book as one entire story – I hadn’t read the books separately before so it makes sense for me to just look at the whole picture

When Isla lost her parents her perfectly ordered and nurturing home life were ripped from her and she living with members of her family that I wouldn’t trust to sit the right way round on the toilet, let alone bring up a child. And I was devastated as the true extent of their disgraceful behaviour unfolded because I hate it in cases like this when I’m right.

The way they treated Isla was completely reprehensible they effectively strip her bare of all her humanity and hold her prisoner, but as if that wasn’t bad enough they physically abuse her – if I could have reached into the story and plucked her from the pages I would have, I read much of the details with a constant stream of tears trickling down my face.

But then you have Joshua, now I liked him, I wanted him to be strong and he was, he listened to his heart and was willing to do what it was going to take to find out the truth and a way to get Isla back. Joshua has a history with Isla but he has long since accepted that she was dead, that the little girl he loved when he was a boy has gone.

But when he bumped into “Rosa” he couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t who she said she was, that there was more to her story than she was telling him. He just would not let the doubt go, he could rest until he found out – he had to know if the woman he could see before him, was the Isla he lost so long ago?

Just how far would he go? Well how long is a piece of string – he was willing to do whatever it took uncover the truth, but would her past be willing to let her go or were they destined to part ways again?

Could he show her the sort of love that she deserved, that she should have had all her life?

Would they or could they survive the upheaval that was to come?

Yes there were a slew of questions and theories throughout the book, there were characters that were a disgrace to humanity, people who although they personified evil were given the good grace to exhibit their personalities in the understanding that as the reader, we needed to experience the bad in order to be able to appreciate the beautiful.

And Isla and Joshua were just that, they were impossible not to love.

I loved the prose and lilt of the story, the intensity that was injected and the emotion that flowed. This is a novel that will keep you engaged from beginning to end, it isn’t the easiest of read in parts as some of the subject matter is difficult but through the tears, I have to say that I thought the story was superb.