Emmett Brown is as dark as Heathcliff, and as unpredictable. Sometimes he's an inspiration, but not often. Frequently he's a man of booze and obsessions and when the lottery numbers and horses fail him, so do love and reason and he becomes an ogre to his wife and children.
For the innocents - Louisa, Rob, Peter, Daniel and Jessie, the bonds formed hiding in hedges at the end of the street, waiting for the maelstroms to pass, are complex and unbreakable.
A powerful story of familial ties, where love - however imperfect - is the best defense against pain.

It is always interesting to see the emotion and passion a book can generate. It makes for a great meeting and wonderful discussion. So delivered the Deborah Forster novel The Book of Emmett with our group this month. We had a big turn out for this meeting, thirteen of us around the table, so there were plenty of opinions to get through. Generally this book was, for want of a better word, enjoyed, although most admitted to finding it disturbing and confronting. Domestic violence is not a pretty topic, ever, so the pain and abuse suffered within these pages was felt deeply by the majority of us. The atmosphere of dread and tension within the house was strong, written well enough to bring back memories of violence experienced by some of us in childhood. It was thought very Australian, relevant and believable. Tera commented that she had a love/hate relationship with this book; a human condition that ironically could be found throughout the story.

There were a few who were not impressed with Forster's writing. Anne and Carol felt it to be clearly journalism writing that ticked all the boxes needed for the 'complete' novel. There was no solid story foundation and they wanted more background on Emmett's history and why he became an abuser.

Regardless of the differing opinions, we still managed a wide ranging and rewarding discussion on many topics with an overall view that this was a worthwhile book addressing an all too real problem, both today and in the past. Looking for something that will pull at you heart-strings? This is it.