The Accident
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 9, 2022
Author Katie McMahon
Distributor: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781760687175
Publisher: Bonnier Echo.
Release Date: September 2022
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
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Very cleverly created The Accident is a small slice of life in the everyday world of Grace, her daughter Emma and some of the people who come into their world, invited and otherwise, which captures beautifully the major mess life can all too easily become, when all you want to do is getting on with simply getting on!
Emma is an only child to single mother, Grace, a Veterinarian who has earned an excellent reputation for her work with the local wildlife sanctuary. Emma is struggling with an eating disorder which rules both their lives.
Zoe, in a long term relationship but childless, finds herself suddenly single as the ‘love of her life’ has accepted a contact in Vancouver and does not want her along on the journey. She is bereft, almost beyond consolation but seeks support from her cousin Claire, a psychologist and her long time very best friend.
Their worlds run parallel as Emma changes schools due to ‘bullying’ issues and finds herself as one of Zoe’s students. Add Christopher, Emma’s birth father, Imogen a Doctor in the Emergency Department of the hospital, who never seems to be at all confident about her diagnosis, Nick the new love in Zoe’s life and then of course there is Ben, the forever love of Graces’ life, except he is married!
There is hidden within the fabric of daily life, a subtle, but deadly game being played out based in obsession and possession which highlights the games people play with others’ lives to fulfil their own needs; sadly, an increasing modern societal issue.
Over a nine-month period Katie McMahon weaves skilfully all these lives into a cohesive force that develops a momentum of its own, until everyone’s reality is bought into sharp focus by The Accident, which as accidents are wont do bring the many things that are truly important in life to the forefront.
Dotted between the chapters are sections of the Coronial report from the Coronial Court of Tasmania Inquiry into a Death which adds to the intrigue of the storyline; but who died?
As the pages turn the story wraps itself around the emotions each one of us has faced or experienced in the madness that is life; the reality of eating disorders, mental health issues, abandonment and rebuilding that will eventually be called for, as life progresses ever onward.
The Accident: do make sure you read the first page of quotes. They sum up life perfectly in a microcosm. An excellent read which is while very easy to relate to, retains the wonderful mantle of fiction to allow life to be held at arm’s length a little while longer.