The Other Half of Me

“What good can the past do the living? What harm?” Growing up in their family’s ancestral home in Wales, Jonathan Anthony and his little sister, Theo, are inseparable. Together they explore the wild acres of the rambling Evendon estate, supporting each other against the loneliness of life with their alcoholic mother, Alicia, and a shifting cast of gossiping cooks and maids. They are fascinated, too, by the nagging mystery of their father’s disappearance: though Alicia insists that he’s been dead for seven years, the children suspect that this is not the whole story.

One morning, they awake to the news that Alicia has been taken away to rehab; their glamorous grandmother, Eve, sweeps onto the scene to impose order on their lives, lavishing the siblings with attention. But as years begin to pass and Jonathan is groomed to inherit Eve’s lucrative American hotel business, his once immutable bond with the brilliant, vibrant Theo begins to break down as she descends into a drug-fueled, obsessive search for the truth about their father. When tragedy strikes the Anthonys once again, Jonathan is forced to confront his own mistakes, and the secrets that have haunted Evendon for generations.

Written in luminous prose, with richly endearing characters and a profound appreciation for the rustic beauty of the Welsh countryside, The Other Half of Me is a magnificent debut, and a masterful portrait of a family and the burdens of the past.