The Perfect Family, Lorna Dounaeva

A blue-grey house sits underneath a stark blue and white sky. The title is written in contrasting blue over the sky. It's a lovely cover.

Lorna was kind enough to send me a paperback of her book, and the cover is so sharp and stunning that the photo doesn’t really do it justice.

What lengths will one woman go to keep the image of her perfect family intact? We explore that in The Perfect Family, and if you think you know how this book will unfold, Dounaeva has a few things in store for you. Told in alternating perspectives of mother Victoria, daughter Anna, and journal entries from Victoria’s son, Joey, this story goes from bad, to worse, to unbelievable in a fast-paced read that keeps you hooked.

“The last thing she needed was Anna taking Kit’s side, convincing him that he should put his health first.”

Yes, you read that right. Victoria is about as unlikeable as they come. Dounaeva has written this awful person, who is in denial about so many things, who puts these unrealistic pressures on her family, and she has written her so exceptionally well. This was so fun watching the story unravel, the secrets spill out, and the ensuing drama. I loved the twisted lengths taken every step of the way.

The Perfect Family is available on Amazon.

About the Book

They seem like the perfect family. Until you discover their secret.

For Victoria, image is everything. And on the surface, she has it all – a big house, a successful husband and two beautiful children.

But behind the scenes, things are very different. Because Victoria and her husband have a dark secret and she lives in terror of it being discovered, of her perfect facade being shattered forever.

Under massive stress, but still desperately trying to keep up appearances, this is a family that is falling apart.
Husband Kit is unable to work. Teenage daughter Anna grows ever more rebellious. And nine-year-old Joey seems increasingly different from other kids.

Victoria realises she has to act now or she will lose everything. And that’s when she has to ask herself – how far is she willing to go, how much is she willing to do, to preserve her perfect family?

The answer is beyond shocking and will plunge them all into a nightmare from which they may never wake.

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