This is a much earlier book than Eva... and that really shows. The language is equally as clean and crisp, though less lyrical. It is engaging--very detailed about mundane things, which is appealing and should lead to deeper characters (though in this case, I don't think it did). Mostly I felt like nothing presented in the first chapter deepened throughout the novel. The narrator has the potential to be more unreliable than she turns out being (though she is certainly complex in that she does a lot of really stupid things), and the child has the potential to be much more sympathetic than she turns out being. I kept reading, having had so much success with Eva, hoping that the book wasn't going where I thought it was going. Unfortunately, it did exactly what I'd hoped it wouldn't do. There was a gun on the mantel, so to speak, from the beginning, and it went off in much the way I expected it to, which was a real disappointment. I found myself unmoved by the end, which felt like a rehash of the first chapter.
I enjoyed this book, though the pace was admittedly slow for the majority. I had hoped that the plot might take more of a "Bad Seed" direction towards the end, but it played out decently enough. One thing that did bug me slightly was the meekness of the heroine and her willingness to take just about anything, and the staunch refusal over and over and over of her beau to accept that his daughter cound possibly have anything but the kindest motives at heart when she does something. Overall, the characters were likeable and I really did care about them. I also like that it's set in England/Scotland, but that's just me- I like stories set in the UK.
