Book Review: In the light of what we see by Sarah Painter
Two young women, their youth separated by eighty years, have a connection. Grace Kemp is a trainee nurse in 1930s Brighton and has been rejected by her family. In the present day, Mina Morgan suffers a near-fatal car crash. With partial memory loss, she is not sure who she can trust. She also sees things that others cannot and her visions become clearer during her recovery in hospital. Both attempting to salvage their lives, the women are drawn together at the place where they both work and eventually stay as patients.
Sarah Painter gives us an insight into how relationships crumble under pressure, and how unscrupulous individuals are capable of taking advantage of vulnerable young people. Mina has lost a portion of her memory; initially not being able to remember the crash. She has forgotten that the love she had for her boyfriend had already disappeared. Grace, putting behind her the disgraceful past she experienced, is portrayed as a weak-minded young trainee, but she is stronger than even she realises. Painter shows us that not much has changed over the years. Modern technology cannot change human nature. We are all, in different ways, vulnerable.
Michael Braccia
Michael Bracci