The Thing About Clare

By: Imogen Clark

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

A dying wish. A devastating secret. Should the truth really stay buried?

The four Bliss siblings have a loving but complicated bond, but when their mother, Dorothy, dies seemingly without a will, this relationship is put to the test. As the mourning siblings try to make sense of the situation, one of them is caught with a secret: before she died, Dorothy entrusted her favourite daughter with her will and a letter - and told her to destroy them both.

Of course it was Anna their mother turned to for this mission. Miriam, the eldest, is far too sensible; Sebastian, the baby, too sensitive; and Clare, the middle child, has always been too rebellious to rely on, and long ago cut herself out of her siblings’ lives.

But what Anna finds in the documents could change everything. Do the other siblings not deserve to know what it is about them that their mother was so desperate to hide? And if it is revealed, will the Bliss family ever be the same again?

©2018 Imogen Clark. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Family Ties

Four sibs growing up in England. When mother dies there's a big secret revealed. The book reveals how finding out of the secret shakes things up. It's a good read, though I enjoyed 's Clark's other novel, Postcards from a Stranger more.

Not as enjoyable

I wasn’t fond of the storyline in this book and I had a lot of trouble with the bad language. I realize that it was basically the one character but goodness, I don’t think she knew any other kind of language and it detracted from the story for me. I’m hesitant to read anymore from this author.

made it halfway through

This book was just too depressing I had to give it up, chap.25. terribly disappointed

The Thing About Clare

The audio was very well done on this year of an English family through the lives of their four children. It was well.written and the characters were very believable. I will read this author again.

I really like this author!

What a great story of siblings and a wonderful mother and not too bad father and the poor 2nd daughter, it’s always the 2nd child. The forgotten one. It’s sad.
Great ending for her.

This story kept my interest.

Enjoyed listening to the narrator. Good story line Well rounded characters. Would read another from same author.

Enjoyed

It was a little depressing, but interesting and true to life. I always enjoy this author.

Narrator probably the only thing that saved it

Though many people say that a narrator makes or breaks a story, in this case, she was the only one holding anything together. I’m sure that the author was trying to make the characters muti-faceted, but the “bad” characteristics seemed to take front and center stage for the most part. They weren’t bad people, but I certainly wouldn’t want to know them in real life. Disappointing since I loved the other 2 books that I have read by this author.

Listen to it and I almost didn’t finish don’t read

It was just ok! Family troubles, family hierarchy, blah blah blah. No real substance as far as I was concerned. If it takes anyone 50 years to figure out they screwed up - that is waaaay too long

Insert meh face

Talk about family drama. That’s all this book as about. There were no redeeming qualities for any of the characters. Everyone was unhappy and complained non stop. “Woe is me” is not my favorite genre. I didn’t hate it but it’s not something I’d recommend to my friends or book clubs. I like IC as an author, but this wasn’t my cup of tea.

An engaging and well crafted story of family life

I really enjoyed listening to this audio book. The story is centred around the Bliss family and the four siblings each of whom have their own demons and issues and how family dynamics affect their lives. Nature versus nurture, perceived parental favourites, the strength of the family bond and split loyalties are all explored around the central plot point of a secret that could potentially blow the family apart. It was really nicely dealt with and wrapped up in satisfying ending. I really enjoyed the first book, Postcards From a Stranger, by this author as well and look forward to the next one. The narration was spot on and captured the different character voices really well.

Another gem from lmogen

An absorbing tale of family relationships that keeps you hooked until the very last page. Narrated well which helps the story flow.

A little slow

The narrator was good but I found the story lacking. The characters were one dimensional and bar Clare they remained so throughout the book.
Shame as it had the promise of an intriguing story.

missed out lots of chapters

couldnt get into this book read the first 15 chapters and nothing much happened skipped a few chapters and still not much i the way of a storyline shame as i loved the previous book i had read by Imogen clark

Lacking something

I hate to be negative about this book because it is not bad. It just didn't have anything original to say and the themes of family dynamics, identity, belonging, loneliness etc weren't observed or explored in much depth at all. The characters were ok, but again, underdeveloped and I found myself not really invested in any of them. I did finish this book and it was not awful and did engage me a little. I just didn't get much from it and will forget it very quickly. I think the sign of a good book is the desire to share it, recommend it, talk about it with someone else. I have no such desire in the case of this book unfortunately.