Reviewed by Luisa Plaja
Prince Rupert's Teardrop is a powerful first novel by Lisa Glass. At the beginning of the book, Mary is having a good day. It’s her 58th birthday and she’s happy to have been signed off work for mental health reasons. But the very next day her mother, who shares a house with Mary in Plymouth, goes missing.
Her mother, Meghranoush, is a 94-year-old tailor and survivor of the Armenian genocide. Mary is thrown into confusion, worry and paranoia as she sets out to find her. She encounters various clues: her mother’s thimble, a menacing trail of glass birds, and rumours of a sadistic serial killer who preys on the elderly.
Prince Rupert’s Teardrop puts you directly into Mary’s erratic mind. You also hear Meghranoush’s harrowing tales of survival, and you’re thrown into the thoughts of a killer at work. There are parts of this book that are difficult to read, not only because the content is harrowing but also because the language is rich and graphic, with nothing held back. It's the kind of book that can give you nightmares, but it's always utterly absorbing. You find yourself constantly questioning what exactly is going on, and there's definitely more than one way to interpret the events reported in the book.
Thought-provoking, unusual and an engrossing psychological thriller, Prince Rupert’s Teardrop is highly recommended.
Adapted from a review first posted on the People's Republic of South Devon (read their interview with the author here).
Rating: 5/5
Like this? Try Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
