Broken Shadows by Sorrel Pitts

‘Looking back, Dad just didn’t act like a man who had killed his son. Every time I come back to it, I remember his face that day we came home and Mum had asked where Callum was, and there was nothing there but true concern, you know, at that moment…’

In 1994, eleven-year-old Callum was abducted from his Wiltshire village. His body was found six months later by his older brother, Tom, near a Neolithic henge called the Shadowing Stones.

It was the first in a series of events that would destroy Tom’s family; the boys’ father was a suspect but never charged, and their mother committed suicide a year later. Convinced his father was responsible for his brother’s death, Tom fled to Australia to start a new life. 

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Now, almost three decades later, Tom learns that his father is dying of cancer. Knowing this may be his last chance to uncover the truth, Tom returns to England. But when childhood acquaintance, Anna, forms a bond with Tom, old feelings are stirred. As he’s reluctantly drawn closer to both Anna and his father, Tom is confronted with a series of shocking twists and revelations that will change his life forever.

Powerful, gripping and deeply moving, Broken Shadows showcases the talent of novelist Sorrel Pitts. Sir Michael Parkinson described her debut novel The River Woman as ‘a fascinating story written by a very promising writer.’ With Broken Shadows, she has fulfilled that promise. In the vein of Donna Tart and Helen Dunmore, her novel is a story of love and betrayal that will haunt the reader long after turning the final page.

My Review

This turned out to be very different from what I expected. The ending was a total revelation. How it started and how it finished was almost like two different books.

We begin with Tom returning to England for the first time since he was 17. Following the horrific murder of his 11-year-old brother Callum, and the suicide of his mother shortly afterwards, he flees to Australia, where he marries Stella and has four children. He also runs a successful business.

He felt at the time that he had to leave because he believed that his father Jim may have killed Callum. So when he gets a call that his father is dying of cancer, he knows he must come home and sort things out. But confronted with a frail, dying old man, he is no longer sure about his suspicions. He is determined to discover what really happened.

In the meantime, he meets Anna, an old childhood acquaintance, and they rekindle their friendship. His relationship with Stella is in flux and Anna’s relationship with her partner Kerem in Istanbul where she has lived and worked for the past six years, is also in trouble. She returned to England to have a hysterectomy and Kerem wants children.

At two points in the book, we visit the Neolithic henge called the Shadowing Stones. It was near here that fourteen-year-old Tom discovered his brother’s body. It is described in horrific detail.

There are also other threads that eventually come together. There is Anna’s sister Isabel and her family, Jim’s time in Ireland and why he left and never went back, and of course the main premise of the book – who killed Callum?

It’s a marvellous book with themes I wasn’t expecting. The last few chapters were totally engrossing, emotional and sad. Highly recommended if you are looking for an intelligent read that questions assumptions.

Many thanks to Grace Pilkington Publicity @GracePublicity for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Sorrel Pitts grew up in the ancient English landscape of Wiltshire, which is a strong presence in her writing. She worked as a magazine editor before moving overseas to teach English in Turkey and Spain. On her return to the UK she became Commissioning Editor for Macmillan Publishers and Editorial Manager for Oxford University Press. She is now living back in Wiltshire and is a freelance editor and writer.

Sorrel’s debut novel The River Woman was published in September 2011 by Indigo Dreams
Press.

Published by Bloodhound Books
EBOOK AND PAPERBACK
Published 6 February 2024
ISBN: (paperback) 978-1-916978-25-6
(e-book) 978-1-504093-59-0
Extent: 360 pages