About the Book

Cornelia Blackwood lives a quiet life. When she goes to the corner shop to buy milk, people whisper behind her back.
Her one constant, her rock, is her husband. But when he doesn’t come home from a work conference, she is left alone to try to pick up the pieces. And before long, the secret he has hidden from her for all these years is laid bare.

Everyone knows what Cornelia did all those years ago.
But no one knows what she will do next. 

 

My Thoughts

Cornelia Blackwood is trying to live her life as best as she can but people look at her and talk behind her back. She seems like a broken woman. She has a loving husband but he has his own secrets and their marriage is perhaps not quite as solid as she thought it was.

I started reading The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood early one afternoon and I lost myself in its pages. The next thing I knew it was early evening and I was turning the last page. The writing in this book is stunning and the way the story of Cornelia gradually unfolds is so brilliantly done.

We meet Cornelia as her husband is about to go off on a work trip. She feels very unsettled about him leaving and she hates waiting for him to go. It’s clear that she is an anxious person but initially you don’t know why. The novel then moves in time between this point and a few months later. There is also a slow reveal of what has happened in the past. I had no idea what was coming in this novel so I’m going to keep this review short and a little vague as I don’t want to risk any spoilers.

I will say that I felt a real connection to Cornelia. She is such an unhappy woman and clearly has issues that she’s not coping very well with. I couldn’t envisage that she could have ever done anything terrible but her behaviour throughout the book can be seen as somewhat questionable. At the same time I just felt so sorry for her. I love it when books leave me unsure of a character’s motives but at the same time make me want them to be okay.

The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood is disturbing at times, and it’s such an emotional read, but it’s so beautifully and sensitively written that it felt impossible for me to put it down. I’m in awe of this book and it’s one that I keep thinking about. This was my first Susan Elliot Wright novel but I will absolutely definitely seeking out everything she has ever written.

Many thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood is out now and available here.