This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel
About the book (from Penguin Books SA website):
A story of sisters, secrets and a sanctuary with a dark heart
Welcome to Wisewood. We’ll keep your secrets, if you keep ours.
High-flier Natalie Collins always has a plan. Her younger sister Kit rarely does.
Until she finds Wisewood. When Kit joins the self-help retreat on a secluded Maine island, Natalie has concerns. Why does it forbid contact with the outside world? Is it a cult?
Then, after months of silence, she receives a message:
Would you like to come tell your sister what you did – or should we?
Who is digging into the Collins’ past? Natalie will have to go to Wisewood to find out.
But it turns out Wisewood is far easier to get into than to leave…
My thoughts:
Let me say that the idea of this story really grabbed me. Picture the scene – we’ve got the love-hate relationship between two sisters, Natalie and Kit. Natalie is driven, self-assured and successful. Kit is the younger sister – trying to find her way in the world. Kit signs up for a six-month long ‘self-improvement’ course at Wisewood, on a remote island, and as a result, also breaks all contact with the outside world. What is going on there? Out of the blue, Natalie receives a strange anonymous email that reads: “We know what you did. Would you like to come tell your sister – or should we?”
In this book, especially as the story unfolds, there is a serious ‘cult’ and ‘brainwashing’ theme – which is something I’m generally quite intrigued with (true crime fan over here!). The book is narrated from various POVs – Kit’s, Natalie’s and initially, an unknown narrator. And that is exactly where things became a bit frustrating for me. I struggled to wrap my head around this ‘third person’, and initially it caused quite a bit of confusion, as I couldn’t figure out if it is was one of the sisters or someone else? Which means that I probably couldn’t enjoy this book as much as I initially thought I would. I do understand the idea of creating suspense and intrigue, but personally, this method was a bit lost on me.
Thank you to Penguin Books (SA) for this review copy, in exchange for an honest review.
ISBN 9780241416105
Format Trade Paperback
Recommended Price R320.00
Published April 2022
