Jessie Burton’s The Confession is a split timeline between Elise in the 1980s and her daughter, Rose, thirty-odd years later. Elise falls madly in love with a writer and follows her to the US, then vanishes. In her thirties, Rose desperately wants to know what happened to her mother but is unable to learn anything from her father, so she sets out to solve the mystery of Elise’s disappearance herself. I read this as a buddy read with a couple friends on bookstagram. It was a bit of a hassle to get as it’s not yet sold in the US, but it was totally worth it.
This was my first experience with Burton’s writing and I deeply hope her other books are as lyrical! Her writing was so beautiful and drew me in completely. I found the entire book very engaging and couldn’t put it down. Elise was mysterious and I found myself consistently wondering what was going through her head. Rose was curious, sad, and relatable. I particularly enjoyed the chapters from her point of view. I did not care for Connie for about the first half of the book, but throughout the second half she greatly grew on me. The characters were real and didn’t feel contrived. I felt like each of the primary characters was someone I could know in real life. Also, the parallels between Elise and Rose, though unknown to the characters themselves, were interesting to watch unfold.
Burton tackles some serious topics that I haven’t seen frequently in other books and was grateful to see represented here. While I felt at times the situations were dealt with a bit flippantly, I was still glad to be put inside a character’s head who was having to make difficult decisions that can often be taboo. Burton didn’t shy away from these topics and brought the characters and readers through in a very human manner that I appreciated.
I don’t want to say too much more because I won’t be able to do so without giving spoilers. I loved this read, the characters, the lyrical language, the relationships. I felt a bit shorted by the ending but felt like it followed with the rest of the storyline. If you’re sensitive to triggering content, this may not be the read for you as several triggers are at the very least mentioned, but if you can power through some difficult content, this can be a rewarding read.
This was read as a paperback purchased through Book Depository.
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