Blog Tour-, More Than Us- 21/6/18

Blog Tour 

More Than Us 

by Dawn Barker

On my blog today I have the pleasure of sharing with you.....

More Than Us

I would like to thank Ellie Pitcher at Canelo and Dawn Barker for inviting me on the blog tour.

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Book Information 

When parents disagree on how to care for their child, is it justifiable to take extreme measures?

Emily and Paul have a glorious home, money in the bank and two beautiful children. Since leaving Scotland for Paul to play football for an Australian team they have been blessed. But sadness lies behind the picture-perfect family - sixteen-year-old Cameron has battled with health troubles his entire life. There's no name for what he has, but his disruptive behaviour, OCD and difficulty in social situations is a constant source of worry.  

When Paul's career comes to a shuddering halt, he descends into a spiral of addiction, gambling away the family's future. By the time he seeks help, it's his new boss Damien who recommends and pays for a rehab facility.

While Paul is away, Emily has to make a tough decision about their son. She keeps it from Paul knowing he'll disapprove. And when a terrible accident reveals the truth, Paul takes his son and goes on the run, leaving Emily to care for fourteen-year-old Tilly, who unbeknown to her parents is fighting battles of her own.

Can the family join together for the sake of their loved ones, or will their troubles tear them apart?

Links to Book:

Amazon (UK)

Kobo (UK)

Google Books (UK)

Apple Books (UK)

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My Review

5☆ A Powerful and Thought Provoking Read

More Than Us is a poignant read about a family in turmoil, it's a pacy read that drew me in right from the very first few pages.

Emily and Paul were happy, when they had their first child Cameron they was over the moon.
But Emily started to notice Cameron wasn't quiet like the other children. No one could seem to tell her exactly what was wrong with him. Except he had rages, didn't like certain food and liked things his way.
Emily was really struggling to bond with Cameron it was like she was suffering from postnatal depression.

Then Emily fell pregnant and had Tily. They bonded instantly.

Emily and Paul are struggling. Paul has lost his job playing soccer due to an injury.
Their world is about to turn upside down!
When Paul disappears with Cameron not telling Emily.

There are some sensitive subjects such as depression, mental health, marriage troubles, special needs, Dawn handles them sensitively and realistically. It really shows Dawn has had lots of experience as a psychiatrist.

More Than Us is a powerful read told in the points of view of both Emily and Paul, which I loved, as you got to see both sides of the coin. It's easy to read this and think, what would I have done?
It's a thought provoking read that really gets under your skin.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this gripping book, I was eagerly turning the pages as I wanted to see what happened next.
The beginning sets the scene, then we are taken back in time to the lead up to the whirlwind that blows their marriage and world apart.

If you enjoy powerful, poignant, thought provoking reads then you will want to read this one.


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Exract

When Cameron was born, Paul and I were like any other parents, I imagine. We were convinced that Cameron would be the most handsome baby – of course. He would be bright, like me, and athletic, like Paul. His hair would be red – not bright orange, but a handsome, dark auburn – which was exotic in Australia rather than ordinary back home in Scotland. He was a handsome boy. He’s still beautiful, at ten.

But as his fine strawberry-blonde baby hair fell out and his thicker hair grew, just brown, we still searched for highlights of red in the sun. It was ridiculous to spend so much time looking for uniqueness in him, when now I would give anything for him to be ordinary.

Cameron was a fractious baby, always on the go. Paul said he was destined to be a striker. We wondered whether he’d play for Scotland or Australia. When Tilly was born eighteen months later, and was so sweet and calm, I knew that it proved that my parenting wasn’t to blame for Cameron’s behaviour. She slept better than he did at night; she allowed me to soothe her while he raged for hours; she ate what I put in front of her. Cameron’s milk always had to be in the same blue sippy cup. His bowl had to be the one with Peter Rabbit on it, and the spoon yellow. He wore the same pair of shorts and dinosaur T-shirt for, I swear, a year. Paul told me to just throw it out, but when he tried to dress Cameron in something different, he too would give up after the screams and tears started. Gradually we just gave in.

As he became a toddler, Paul and I looked at each other with strained amusement when he threw his dinner across the room. Paul always thought I was overreacting. ‘He’s just a boy,’ he would say. ‘I was just like him when I was a kid. You should hear some of Mum’s stories about the things Alasdair and I used to do as kids.’

My own mother was, by then, in a nursing home in Scotland and Dad was working in Canada where, eventually he’d marry again and settle. I had no one else in Australia; Paul was my only family, and he was busy. I joined a local mothers’ group and craved our weekly catch up, when we’d all trudge in, exhausted from another relentless night, comparing stories to reassure each other that none of us were failing: this was just the way babies were. But as our children grew, I started to dread the mothers’ group meetings. Everyone else’s boys were, well, normal. They cuddled into their mothers’ chests while Cameron ran the other way from me. I began to feel nervous every time I went out with Cameron, always ready to leap to my feet and sprint across the room to grab him. It was as if the magnet that was meant to pull us together had flipped over in one of us, and instead, we repelled each other.

As a little boy, Cameron wasn’t just angry; these weren’t the normal temper tantrums that Tilly grew to have, where some distraction and bribery could make her calm down and look at the beautiful butterfly or the pretty bird. Cameron was never just angry; he was completely consumed with his distress. Sometimes I wondered if he was really my child: I saw none of myself in this feisty little boy. Cameron’s real strength wasn’t in his little arms that pummelled into me when I tried to put him in his room; it was in his ability to know exactly how to push me. When he was calm, I tiptoed around him, taking the time to sit on my bed with the door closed for ten minutes, my cheeks burning with the awareness that I felt better when I wasn’t with him.

When he went to school he had to have the same sandwiches (white bread, butter, two slices of ham, and the crusts cut off and cut into three equal fingers), a strawberry yoghurt (only one brand, no bits in it), six rice crackers and a green apple, peeled, cut into even slices and sealed in a sandwich bag. At birthday parties, he wouldn’t eat cupcakes because he hated the texture of icing on his lips and the idea of getting messy was too much for him. I smiled when the other mothers told me how lucky I was that he didn’t like junk food. But I wanted him to like junk food; I didn’t want him to be different.

Paul told me he’d grow out of it eventually. But he didn’t; he became more restrictive. But it wasn’t just food. It was everything: the route we took to school, the bedtime routine, the way I made his bed. And before I knew it, Paul had given up complaining. Sometimes I saw him open his mouth as Cameron’s face contorted with anxiety, but he learned to close it again. We all learned to live Cameron’s way. As long as his world was the way he needed it to be, he was happy. And what other job does a mother have but to make her children happy?

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Author Bio


Dawn Barker is a psychiatrist and author. She grew up in Scotland, then in 2001 she moved to Australia, completed her psychiatric training and began writing. Her first novel, Fractured, was selected for the 2010 Hachette/Queensland Writers Centre manuscript development programme, was one of Australia's bestselling debut fiction titles for 2013, and was shortlisted for the 2014 WA Premier's Book Awards. Her second novel is Let Her Go. Dawn lives in Perth with her husband and three young children.

Author Social Media Links

Twitter: @drdawnbarker

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More Than Us

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