Blurred Lines by Hannah Begbie
A compulsive, literary domestic suspense set to spark debate.
When Becky accidently sees her boss with a woman who isn’t his wife, she’s horrified but keeps her counsel – she owes Matthew so much for all he’s done for her career. But when the same woman accuses him of rape and asks for the witness to come forward, Becky doesn’t know what to do.
Was what she saw rape? Or is this a young actress looking to get ahead? And can Becky separate her own traumatic past from the present?
As Becky attempts to untangle these blurred lines, she must risk everything to find the truth... Blurred Lines is a brilliantly written novel that explores the effects of #metoo, and questions identity, womanhood, and how trauma is dealt with.
Author Bio
Hannah Begbie studied Art History at Cambridge University. She went on to become a talent agent, representing BAFTA and Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning writers and comedians for fifteen years. She also enrolled in The Novel Studio course at City University, winning that year’s new writing prize. The book she developed there became her debut novel, MOTHER, which later went on to win the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers from the RNA. The TV rights were snapped up by Clerkenwell Films (Lovesick, Misfits) after a heated auction, with screenwriter Tom Edge (The Crown, Judy) attached.
She lives in north London with her husband and their two sons.
Review
If 2020 is all about covid then 2019 was all about #metoo and Weinstein. This book relates completely to this as we see young women being sexually assaulted by either men in power or without their knowledge. This book took aim at these types of people and scored a direct hit. As much as I enjoyed this book it was a harrowing read in places. It was certainly compelling though as I devoured this book in one day!
The theme of Medusa playing through the book was very apt and reflected quite a lot of women’s experiences in the story. I totally would want to watch that film if it came out! I loved how it gave extra layers to the novel especially when you take into consideration the Weinstein affair and how women are generally treated in the movie business.
I really loved the character of Becky. It was clear that Hannah had researched the mental health aspects as she really came across as being authentic and the description of her anxiety and anger were stop on. The part which I found really clever was how the affects can still resonate 16 years later but also how Becky’s experience mirrors a characters later on in the book. I also loved her relationship with Maisie - protective and neurotic (all for very good reasons) but it was a really close mother / daughter relationship.
At first I was a bit conflicted with the title of this book as I thought ‘Blurred Lines’ was missing the crux of the matter as it made me think of the Robin Thicke song of the same name. The lyrics of ‘Blurred Lines’ comes across as being very misogynistic and an encouragement to ‘just go with it’ even if the other partner doesn’t show willing. It made me wonder if by having the same title as the song did this help to promote the song even more and therefore encourage that type of thinking. But then I decided that no it didn’t, in fact it was the opposite. I think by having this title is shows that what one person may see as ‘being alright’ and acceptable then the other person sees as rape. That unless there was significant agreement between the two parties then it is deemed as sexual assault. Eastenders actually did a good storyline about this topic as well.
This is a book that should be on your tbr pile!
