When I Had a Little Sister
By Catherine Simpson
Blurb
When did she decide to die? Was it before midnight on Friday the 6th, because she couldn’t face another night or was it before dawn on Saturday the 7th because she couldn’t face another day?
Did she think about us? Did she think about her dog, Ted, or her cat, Puss, sleeping on Grandma Mary’s old sofa in the conservatory and who would be waiting for her to feed them in the morning? What about her horses in the stable? Did she think about them? Did she imagine Dad finding her? It would have to be Dad, after all. It couldn’t be anyone else.
Did she know what she was doing?
On a cold December day in 2013 Catherine Simpson received the phone call she had feared for years. Her little sister Tricia had been found dead in the farmhouse where she, Catherine and their sister Elizabeth were born – and where their family had lived for generations.
Tricia was 46 and had been stalked by depression all her life. Yet mental illness was a taboo subject within the family and although love was never lacking, there was a silence at its heart.
After Tricia died, Catherine found she had kept a lifetime of diaries. The words in them took her back to a past they had shared, but experienced so differently, and offered a thread to help explore the labyrinth of her sister’s suicide.
Our Review
When I Had a Little Sister: The Story of a Farming Family Who Never Spoke by Catherine Simpson was an interesting book which could have benefitted from a bit more editing.
On the 1st December 2013 Catherine’s little sister killed herself.
“When did she decide to die? Was it before midnight on Friday the 6th, because she couldn’t face another night, or was it before dawn on Saturday the 7th, because she couldn’t face another day?”
She was doing her Christmas shopping when she found out that Tricia had killed herself in the farmhouse where they grew up.
“Shock and grief are very physical, and it will be weeks before I lose the sensation of reeling backwards, of staggering, unable to grasp onto anything sure and safe that will enable me to regain my balance and find my footing again.”
After her sister’s death Catherine found some diaries written by her and was able to understand what she had experienced prior to her death.
When I Had a Little Sister provided a fresh perspective on living with a family member with mental health issues and also on life after a family member commits suicide.
Our Final Rating...
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