MOONLIGHT SONATA by Eileen Merriman

Successful author of teenage/YA fiction has branched out and written her first novel for adults. I have read two of her YA novels and really liked them in their story line and character development, as well as being very relevant and current in dealing with issues so important to our teenagers. In this novel, designed for adults, she tackles incest - consensual rather than abusive which is a Pandora's box all by itself. I did a bit of googling on the subject and it would appear to be more common, though not at all accepted, than one would think. By the way I am not giving any plot spoilers in revealing that the core of this story is sexual love between family members and the taboo that it is. The last lines of the first chapter are a dead giveaway, as is the setting of a family reunion with a plethora of teenage cousins staying together at the beach over the summer holidays.

Widow Hazel has opened her home on a Northland beach - I visualise somewhere like Coopers Beach or Cable Bay - for New Year holidays to her adult children - Sully, Anthony, twins Molly and Joe, and their families, come together from around NZ, Australia and Middle East. Like all families there is bad history, the most momentous thing that has happened to this one being Hazel leaving her husband and the three sons, moving to Christchurch with Molly when she was only six for a six year period, during which Molly had no contact at all with her father and brothers, the separation from her twin Joe being especially traumatic.

The story is told in alternate chapters by Molly in both the present and in her past; 15 year old Lola who is Anthony's daughter, only very recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; and Noah who is Molly's 18 year old  son. The story only covers a few days over the New Year period, but a lot can happen in even just one day. The author has captured that unique NZ phenomenon - the family summer beach holiday where everyone is in close quarters, alcohol is involved, bit of cabin fever, childhood sibling issues resurface, set against the stunning background of the beach, the surf, the sand, running out of supplies, sunburn.

I am not so sure about her characters. Although quite distinct they are fairly one dimensional, with little development. They are all self absorbed which you can appreciate for the teenage characters, but not so much for the adult characters. For example Molly and her mother Hazel I did not like at  all,  both far too stuck in the patterns and behaviours of the past, unable and it would seem unwilling to make peace with each other. Molly is a smart woman - professor at a Melbourne university -  yet she has very little self awareness of how she behaves with her husband, her son and her siblings. So much rage there for a grown woman to be carrying around with her. Brother Sully I found annoying too - his wallowing in self pity, his awful daughter and unpleasant son; then there is Joe who is a bit like Peter Pan - never grown up and blithely unable to take on the responsibilities of being an adult. I did find the ending unsatisfactory.  Aside from being too neat and tidy, I am not sure it is sending out the right message as a way to deal with problems.

It's biggest problem  for me however is that it is neither an adult novel nor a teenage novel. It is not complex and nuanced enough for the former, but with teenagers as lead characters it certainly falls into the teen genre. And yet due to its subject matter with so much of the perspective being from the adult Molly is probably not what I would imagine teenagers would be engaging with.