The Good Daughter

Maze Of Secrets

Dahlia Waller remembers being called Pet by her mother. But her memories are possibly muddled, because she did not have a normal childhood. She was dragged by her mother Memphis, from one place to another, usually at night, packing meager belongings into a car and heading for the next motel, trailer, or cheap rental, that did not require identification papers.

Alexandra Burt’s The Good Daughter, is a maze of Dahlia’s hazy memories of being poor, friendless and home- schooled; her mother working at menial jobs for cash, because of the lack of “paperwork.” After some years of this, they land up at the town of Aurora, which, unknown to Dahlia, is her mother’s hometown.

When she grows up and leaves home, Dahlia’s life is a miserable chain of dead end jobs, because of the same missing “paperwork.” She returns a few years later, and the two women form an uneasy bond. Dahlia is haunted by visions and snatches of memory she cannot place.

Her already troubled life is shattered further when, resting after a jog, she discovers the half-buried body of a woman in the forest. The woman is taken to hospital in a coma, and becomes headline news in the town. The case forces a reconnection with a childhood friend Bobby, now a cop.

A befuddled Memphis is found wandering around a deserted farm, and Dahlia discovers that it belongs to her mother. She is furious about having lived like a vagabond all those years, when her mother always owned a large property in Aurora.

Memphis seems to be getting frailer by the day and losing her memory; she starts to tell Dahlia the story of her past that has brought them to this pass. She starts with the story of the owners of the farm, the woman’s life marred by a horrific incident in her youth, that has scarred her for life.  As Dahlia tries to make sense of what is going on, the past and present converge, with Alexandra Burt trying up all loose ends. Even with some ghoulish goings on, the core of the book is about love, longing for the unattainable, and the search for an elusive peace. 

The book is focused on the remarkably strong Memphis and Dahlia, with the men in their lives playing catalysts in the tragedy, and final redemption of the women.  After some point, the suspense can be guessed at but that does not take away from the page-turner quality of the novel.

The Good Daughter

By Alexandra Burt

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 400