Healing Flynn - Juliette Mead

Looking through my local library last week, I came across this book in hardback amongst the new book releases. The reviews,. although short, suggested this was my kind of novel.
The inside jacket synopsis appealed to me, this looked like a good read. Little was I to know, that I was about to experience a novel of such depth and raw insight into the process of therapy, that I would be profoundly moved to tears. Not the little type of emotional ...
...level of hurt. joy, pain and hope.
Rarely do I read a novel that moves me so deeply, that I sit for ages after stunned and dazed by the experience. This author possesses the ability to go far beyond the realms of human nature, exposing a tale of guilt, grief and the power of love as a redemptive force.
It is not an easy novel to read, you cannot pick it up, read a few chapters and return to it later.
The story –line needs all ... more

Looking through my local library last week, I came across this book in hardback amongst the new book releases. The reviews,. although short, suggested this was my kind of novel.
The inside jacket synopsis appealed to me, this looked like a good read. Little was I to know, that I was about to experience a novel of such depth and raw insight into the process of therapy, that I would be profoundly moved to tears. Not the little type of emotional release on reading a romantic novel, but on a higher level of hurt. joy, pain and hope.
Rarely do I read a novel that moves me so deeply, that I sit for ages after stunned and dazed by the experience. This author possesses the ability to go far beyond the realms of human nature, exposing a tale of guilt, grief and the power of love as a redemptive force.
It is not an easy novel to read, you cannot pick it up, read a few chapters and return to it later.
The story –line needs all of your concentration, no disturbances to let the powerful nature of the story carry you away.
It has a passion that leaves you feeling sad, but uplifted at the same time, the journey is long and arduous but well worth the while, though not a novel for the faint-hearted.

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The Author.

I know little of this author; the jacket tells us that she was born in 1960, worked in finance in London, New York and Dallas. She has written five novels, none of which I have read. A situation, which needs remedying as soon as possible.

The Characters

I know this is an unusual way to review a book, but the reason will soon become clear.
The main two characters are the story, although the other characters are not by any means a minor role. Each character displays their own strengths and weaknesses, they add to the story on different levels,

Madeline Light is a trauma therapist with ten years experience in her role. It is her job to counsel the victims and family members after a major disaster. She works on a one to one basis, but is called out to major traumatic disasters.

Flynn is a journalist and photographer, normally covering war stories, but in this case has not worked for a long time, initially he appears to be “burnt out”. His career is in jeopardy and his family life is slowly disintegrating.

Both characters meet on a wild and stormy night, when an oilrig disaster brings them together. Madeline is called out to the immediate site of the disaster aboard a rescue ship.
Flynn, posing as a representative of the company, uses Madeline to get to the disaster area.
The sixteen dead are laid out in a makeshift shelter, while the recovery teams look for other survivors. Flynn, exposed as a journalist, is made by the captain to view the bodies, for some reason Madeline goes with him. Flynn breaks down, cradling a man in his arms and calling him Eric, but the mans name is George. Hustled back to the main land, Flynn disappears.

In the months following this night, Madeline’s partner Patrick is brought to life. An eminent sculptor, he is starting work on the bust of a dead cardinal, a commission of great worth.
Initially he and Madeline seem well suited, Patrick is almost twenty years older than Madeline, but they have a strong relationship, allowing them to pursue their own careers.
Patrick has two divorces behind him, with no wish to marry again; Madeline has a secret that will only come to light later on in the novel.

Georgia, Flynn’s’ wife and mother of his two children Beth 13 and Oliver 9, is struggling to keep their marriage going. Flynn loves her and his children, but something in him is trying to destroy all he holds dear. An incident in Rwanda has scarred him in some way.

The Basic Plot.

Madeline is accosted by Flynn one night when returning home from her office. In a semi-jocular way, he is asking for therapy. Madeline does not trust him, but arranges for an appointment the next day.
Flynn trying to take control of the counselling hampers their first few sessions.
However, over the next few months, he starts to open up a little, giving Madeline an insight to a recurrent dream that haunts him. These are nightmares from his time in Rwanda, although he constantly changes his perception of his dream.
Madeline has to sift through the dream impressions to get to the truth. Eric,a friend and journalist to Flynn had died in a massacre with a family of Tutsi refugees.
This incident has clearly disturbed Flynn, but he will not talk about it.

The body of the novel is how Madeline applies her instincts to the sessions, while Flynn gives away a little more each time he visits. Mainly, he talks about his assignments in war-torn countries. He has not worked for a long time and is bitter over how the photos and pieces he writes, has little or no effect on the general public. His pictures sell well, but they do little to alleviate the suffering he sees all around him.
Madeline’s first conceptions of him have to be reassessed. Her initial thoughts were that he had used his cameras to protect himself by the images he sees, but when she asks him to bring some photographs in to see, she sees the cameras as an extension of his hurt, allowing him to share an empathy with those he captures on film.
As the sessions continue, both are drawn to each other in a bond of love, that neither can cross, Flynn has to drive his demons out, Madeline has her own demons to face, the death of her son at five years old.

Madeline has her own counsellor, Jillian, who has already crossed the boundaries herself, by seeing Madeline as the daughter she never had. While Jillian is in hospital having a hip operation, Madeline is coming to terms with her own grief. A conversation with Jillian later on is to have a long-term affect on Madeline’s feelings.

Slowly, Flynn is made to face up to the events that have paralysed him from his work and his family. He emerges as a much more honest person, who carries a weight of guilt around him, that makes him feel unworthy of being loved.

Madeline has also to realise that she is living with only half of her heart, much had died with her son.

As the attraction between her and Flynn develops, what will happen to both of them? ?
What is the guilt that both carry within them? Can there be any happy ending?
This, faithful readers is for you to find out.

Summary

This is not just a thought-provoking story, many of the chapters which deal with the atrocities of war and the genocide of nations, are real and alive with the journalists who risk their lives to report on these topics. Juilette Mead has done a lot of research into the backgrounds of war correspondents.
The novel is an insight into what motivates these brave people; it is not for the money or the status, which comes with the territory, most are frightened for their lives. It is to bring to the public attention the sights they see which we, as readers of newspapers often turn aside from.
How many people now really remember the horrors of Kosova, Sarajevo, and the Albanians?
What of the plight of the Tutsi Nation who has almost been wiped out?
One incident in this novel astounded me, it may be fiction, but I incline to think it is true.
On reaching an orphanage, where the children were emaciated by hunger and the conditions were so desperate, the camera crew cleaned the wards of the filth of excretment, fed the hungry children and organised all the medical supplies, then they took pictures of the cleansed wards. It was to bring the plight to the eyes of the world. Yet now we have forgotten them.
The novel also works on a different level, the therapists who work with the survivors of traumas, whether through war, accidents, flight disasters, I had never given a thought to them.
What of the delicate relationships, which develop between the therapist and the client?
The loss that each must feel when it is time to move on and go on living.
I can highly recommend this novel, to those who can take the intellectual challenge or simply, like myself be open to the issues that this book brings up.
I was lucky to get this from the library, I am tempted to buy the book, it’s on sale at Amazon for £7.49, instead of the retail price of £17.99.
Thank you for reading
Lisa 

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