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I am not sure how this happened, or if it’s just in the zeitgeist right now, but I’ve read two books in a row with main characters who are so socially impaired as to seem autistic and who suffered trauma in their childhoods. (The other was Strange Sally Diamond.)
In Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, Lenny (short for Helena) Marks is a teacher in a small Australian town who is well organized and effective at her job and taking care of herself but not being social. She is close to the foster mother who raised her and superficially friendly with those she comes in contact with regularly, but she doesn’t have a social life. She plays Scrabble in the evenings against an imagined Monica from “Friends.”
Life is fine, but its careful balance gets tipped when she gets a letter and then phone calls from the parole board. She would much rather not remember what happened in her childhood and why the parole board would be contacting her.
Her foster mother had been gently urging her to make more social connections and even see a therapist. Maybe at least she can take her up on the first of those recommendations: Lenny tries to make small talk with coworkers and even hang out with them after work. And she gets to know more the nice man who works at the grocery store.
She’s going to need these connections as the long-buried truth makes itself known in her mind and in the present. It may take Lenny a while to see the signs of who is really on her side, but those who are show her real care and support. The story plays out as the clues come together about the mystery of Lenny’s childhood even as it shows the development of a woman who is generally socially inept finding her place in the world. It’s sweet to see it all come together.
Again, not sure how I ended up reading two books in a row with such similar characters and trauma from childhood, but there it is. I think I prefer Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder to Sally Diamond, which I may or may not have chosen to read if I’d paid attention to any info available about the character’s traumas. This tipped a bit more to the side of “adult woman finds love and family” rather than “deals with buried trauma,” which worked better for me.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 9 uses of strong language, around 10 instances of moderate profanity, a few uses of mild language, and 5 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content is entirely “closed-door.” Violence includes murder and accidental killing, as well as references to regular domestic abuse. There are some mentions of blood but the descriptions of anything that happens are restrained.
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*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
