The Secret of the Brighton House by Cathy Hayward | Book Spotlight

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Title & Author: The Secret of the Brighton House by Cathy Hayward

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing 

Publication date: 1st November 2024

Blurb:

Joanne has always been told her mother died in childbirth, but she never questioned her dad’s love. When preparing for the birth of her much longed for baby Joanne unpacks a box of her own old baby clothes, she accidentally discovers a photo of her birth mum holding a newborn outside the Brighton House and realises she’s been lied to.

But why would her dad lie to her? And why did he move her so far away from Brighton? And why won't he talk to her now? With her questions stonewalled by her father, Joanne is terrified of what his silence means. But desperate to know what really happened to Grace, Joanne delves into the past and begins to uncover layers of secrets that threaten to destroy the very family she holds dear. What really happened to her mum? What could be so devastating that her dad has kept it from her for her whole life―and is she ready to find out?

Using Facebook, she meets her mum’s old friend Susie. Through her, and old redacted hospital records, she discovers that Grace suffered from post-partum psychosis. She had tried to kill baby Joanne and was incarcerated in an asylum outside of Brighton where she later died.

Joanne becomes concerned for her own mental health when she starts ‘seeing’ her birth mother, and her physical health when she starts bleeding and is hospitalised. But when Joanne’s baby arrived without issue, she brings the family and friends of her mother in Brighton together with those of her father and stepmother in Berwick together to begin a new chapter.

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The Secret of the Brighton House is award-winning author Cathy Hayward's second novel about a woman's struggle with the discovery that her mother tried to kill her when suffering with postpartum psychosis. Now pregnant with a much longer for baby herself, she worries about what this means for her. It is a powerful and captivating story of two women trying to find their places as mothers, wives and women, linked by a devastating secret.