THE UNWILDING

The Unwilding by Marina Kemp, now out in paperback, is a beautifully written expose uncovering complicated family secrets, relationships and concealed pasts which can haunt those involved for the rest of their lives. Kemp writes with an understated intricacy and as she invites us to watch the Travers family dynamics crumble over a week’s summer holiday.

Don Travers is an eminent writer and powerful patriarch. Lydia is his quiet, accepting wife and together they have four children, 19 year old Tree, Malachy, Etta and Nemony who at 10 is the youngest. It’s the summer of 1999 and as usual, the Travers family have rented the same sprawling villa in Sicily for the month. For this particular week, Don has invited like-minded literary guests to Sicily including Tuva, who comes every year and whom the children inexplicably intensely dislike and Zoe Goodison, a 26 year old writer whose acclaimed debut novel has attracted Don’s backing. However, this summer Lydia is ill, and the children seem oblivious to the seriousness, except perhaps for Tree who now an adult finds herself conflicted between her father’s behaviour and her mother’s decline. Narrated alternatively between Nemony and Zoe, an unnamed event unfolds to throw the fragile equilibrium into chaos and cause a max exodus from the house.

The story then moves to Blackheath. Nemony is now 30 and married to Liam, a successful but financially poor artist. Their new baby George has colic and is putting a strain on their relationship resulting in Liam working longer hours away from home. Just when Nemony is feeling at her lowest, an unexpected encounter with Zoe, whom she barely remembers for the summer in Sicily, sparks an unlikely friendship which allows Nemony to feel more human again. Gradually Zoe reveals snippets from her past and draws out memories long forgotten, particularly surrounding her mother and her cult upbringing. Similarly, fragments of Zoe’s relationships are unearthed, whether her fractured relationship with her parents, previous relationship or evolving perception of Don. Don had predicted Zoe was destined for great success, could this be what she’s aiming for through Nemony?

As narrators, both Nemony and Zoe are the outsiders. As the youngest child, Nemony was often only told snippets of information by her siblings and ignored by her father. Her favourite times were being in the kitchen with her mother as she prepared the large family meals so inadvertently it is her, who without understanding it at the time, saw her mother’s illness unfold first hand. Similarly, Zoe felt out of her comfort zone with the Travers family that summer. She didn’t understand their rules and had recently been cut off from her own parents who had felt betrayed by her first novel. Could Zoe be about to do the same a second time?

Kemp’s intricate portrayal of the Travers family is both heart-breaking and tragic as the consequence one week of trauma brings to family life is gradually unwrapped. She particularly touches on the long-term damage of family loss to siblings and how their understanding and ability to process this is dependent on their version of events and age at the time which should provide thought provoking discussion for your book club.