Merry Go Round by Sarah Toll
Lily Montrose has endured a white-knuckle ride during her on-off affair with Nathaniel Deighton. She is sitting alone in a coffee shop when a brief but devastating call brings the whole thing to a crashing halt.
Fleeing her job and flat in London, she retreats to a farmstead on the shores of the north Devon coast to repair her broken spirit and regain her sense of self.
Here she finds an unlikely soulmate in Adam, a somewhat homespun but handsome local with unexpected qualities. As the months pass by, Lily begins to put her troubled past behind her and – despite harbouring the most intimate of secrets – her relationship with Adam deepens.
But when Nat suddenly resurfaces, the malevolent merry go round begins to revolve once again, revealing the ugly truths that lie deep within Lily and unleashing a chain of events that will threaten not only her sanity, but everything she holds dear...
About the author.
One fact that people may no know about Sarah is that she was an Olympic Torchbearer...She ran her leg of the relay in St Albans, Hertfordshire on July 8th, 2012. 'It was the most wonderful day of my life, followed closely by the release of Merry Go Round. Carrying the torch was an honour and I'm so proud to be able to say I carried it.'
Sarah was born in Hertfordshire, where she lived and worked for many years in the NHS. She attended Oxford Brookes University and graduated with a merit in Creative Writing (MA).
Sarah now lives in rural Northamptonshire with her partner Keith, their dog and cats. She continues to write, paint and work as a Reiki Practitioner and Macmillan Volunteer.
Merry Go Round is her first novel, however, the next is already in progress. It is a 'sidequel' or re-write of Merry Go Round, following the same year but revealing the lived experiences of Adam and Lou whilst Lily was having such a bad time of things.
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahToll.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahtoll_writer/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/syd_clarence
Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20882412.Sarah_Toll
Website : http://sarahtoll.co.uk/
Review.
‘Merry Go Round’ is an intense look into the psychological damage that an abusive relationship can do to a person. It's unflinching in its portrayal of how ones mental health and confidence can be knocked in a horribly emotionally abusive relationship.
Nat is a twat! He emotionally abuses Lily, spends time with her and then ghosts her for weeks on end, gaslights her so everything is her fault and is basically a horrible person. She has found herself isolated so when he dumps her, she flees to Devon to live in as a cleaner for holiday cottages. She tries to heal, rest and become at peace. Fellow worker Adam is friendly and they soon embark on a relationship and she is beginning to allow a bit of happiness into her life. Of course, this is when Nat rears his ugly head again!
At first, I got annoyed with all the melodrama of Lily’s internal disparaging monologue but then realised that this was a true reflection of how people feel in this situation. Frantic, lack of self-confidence, isolated, anxiety, depressed. This was a great insight into how someone in Lily’s place would be feeling. I think the author has done a lot of research to make this book spot on!
This is an engaging psychological thriller, character study even of a young woman’s circumstances and how she battles overcome them. It's gritty, real and unflinching. Well worth the read!
