She Chose Me By Tracey Emerson

She Chose Me by Tracey Emerson is a gripping, chilling tale of motherhood, rejection, regrets, obsession, abandonment and the fragility of the bond between a mother and a daughter. It is the author’s debut novel and she pulls it off magnificently.

She Chose Me By Tracey Emerson

Grace is a middle-aged woman who has come back to London after teaching twenty years abroad due to her mother’s deteriorating health. Her relationship with her mum has been strained and now with dementia slowly taking hold of her mum, their relationship is beyond repair. Working in a London language school, she puts her mum Polly in a nursing home. Already emotionally fragile and plagued by terrifying nightmares, Grace is puzzled by odd happenings, including receiving Mother’s Day cards and gifts in the post and silent phone calls.

Cassie, who was adopted by a rich couple when she was just a baby, is out to find out more about her real mother. Her adopted mother has recently passed away and she is facing issues in her life. A disturbed young woman, she has come to the conclusion that Grace is her real mother and is all set on building a relationship with Grace.  She ends up getting a job in the nursing home where Grace’s mother is now a resident. Taking on a new identity as Emma, a poor and less intelligent version of herself, she comes across as a warm and caring person.

Grace and Emma strike up a friendship, but things soon get complicated. You’ll have to read the book to find out how it all works out !

The story unfolds through the first-person accounts of the Grace and Cassie/Emma,  the structure enables the reader to enjoy their differing interpretations of events without tedious repetition.  We end up with conflicting feelings for Cassie and Emma. While Cassie’s obsession is freaky, Emma arouses our sympathy through both the tragedy of her situation and the kindness she summons when playing the role as Emma.

This is an engaging psychological thriller that you have to fully concentrate on to comprehend which character`s voice you are reading. This intricately plotted thriller is narrated in chapters that alternate between Grace and Emma and flip back and forth between the present day and the past. The chapters are clearly dated but not marked with the name of who is narrating that chapter.