We forgive murderers, not pedophiles.
Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.
Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?
Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you’ve read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
Book Info: Print length: 259 Pages. Publisher: Rise Press. Publication Date: 12 September 2017
My Thoughts:
Saving Noah has been on my kindle in 2020 and I’d put it off for a while because whilst I absolutely ADORE Lucinda Berry’s books, the subject matter wasn’t something I really wanted to read and to be honest I’m not sure many people would either, but I am trying to read Lucinda’s entire back catalogue and with over 20,000 reviews on Amazon plus it’s FREE on Kindle Unlimited I started to read.
Firstly, I need to mention that Lucinda ALWAYS seems to tackle the topics many other authors avoid, she takes taboo subjects and turns them into thought-provoking, heart-breaking stories that should be read as whilst these are abhorrent and deeply disturbing, these do unfortunately happen in real life.
Saving Noah is the devastating and highly emotional story following a family who’s lives have been destroyed when 16 year old Noah confesses to molesting two little 8 year old girls. We follow his mother Adrianne’s unconditional love as she tries to keep her marriage together, protect her young daughter and support Noah through his incarceration and imminent release from the juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
However, despite Adrianne’s deep and unwavering commitment to Noah, her husband doesn’t want him anywhere near their 8 year old daughter and refused to visit him during his 18 month sentence.
I can’t begin to even express all the emotions I was feeling throughout this sad and horrific story. I was absolutely BROKEN at times and had to put the book down several times. The story devastated me for so many reasons as the ripple effect of Noah’s actions is felt through the entire family. It’s is literally impossible to read this book without crying and I just couldn’t see how this story could end any other way than it did, but OMG I was a wreck by then.
So, my overall thoughts are this: despite the taboo and horrific subject matter, Lucinda Berry is somehow able to show every side of the story with sensitivity. She puts the reader right into the heart of the book where you can feel this unbreakable bond between mother and son. Adrianne’s pain is so sharp it hurts and her love is so unconditional it’s harrowing. It still hurts to think about this book weeks after I finished it.
The ONLY reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of the 5, is that there is a chapter towards the end from the father’s point of view which I didn’t like/agree with.