Exposure by Helen Dunmore

Being mainly a Children's bookseller, I have only ever read Helen Dunmore's picture books (and I do recommend them - check out 'The Islanders' and 'The Ferry Birds') and her books for teenagers, notably 'The Ingo Chronicles' series. I'd read good reviews of one of her adult books - 'The Lie' - but never got round to reading it, so when the opportunity arose to read her new book 'Exposure', I jumped at it. And I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it immensely, it is so readable, I finished it in a few days - it was a real page turner.

Set in London in 1960 it follows Giles and Simon, who both work for the Admiralty, and Simon's wife Lily and their 3 children. Giles has taken home a top secret file which he is not authorised to read, but after an accident at his home he is taken to hospital. He telephones Simon to retrieve the file and put it back in its rightful place, but Simon is suspicious and does not execute Giles' commands. What follows is a string of events involving espionage, cover-ups, lies, exposure of intimate relationships, blackmail and wrongful imprisonment. The main events are retold by Lily, who struggles to bring up 3 children on her own and is fearful of a knock on the door, and Giles, stuck in hospital with his leg in plaster but with further health complications. Lily goes from being a quiet, dutiful wife with a teaching job, to a strong fearless individual, willing to do anything for her husband, while Giles goes from being a very unlikeable bully to a rather pathetic sorrowful person, wishing to right all his wrongs.

This book does not disappoint.