#BlogTour- ‘The Unforgotten’ by Amy MacKinnon

Previously published as ‘Tethered’, but renamed, revamped and re-released on the world as ‘The Unforgotten’, Amy MacKinnon’s book is back to get the audience it deserves!
Published by Orion and accompanied by blogtour to highlight just how wonderful this book is, it is available NOW as an eBook for 99p.

About the book

Clara Marsh is an undertaker. She was taken in as a child by the undertakers Linus and Alma Bartholemew after her mother died and she had her first taste of death.

‘But I wasn’t comforted by a god who couldn’t give me back my mother; I found salvation in the undertaker who could. I suppose that’s why I became one.’

She is haunted by the death of a girl, found in the local woods , unidentified and unclaimed.

Buried at public cost and with the community taking her to their heart, the girl was named Precious Doe and both she and Detective Mike Sullivan -himself widowed just prior to Precious’ death-keep that little girl close in their hearts and hope to one day be able to give her the dignity  in death that she was denied in life.

In this way, she ensures that the dead who she prepares for wakes and burials are unforgotten, she grows flowers that she ties into bouquets that she includes in the coffin, as though tethering the living and the dead.

Much of Clara’s role is explored through contrasts between her quiet certainty that dead is dead; she finds comfort in that and takes pride in returning the dead, as they were, to their loved ones for a final goodbye. The preparations she undertakes for their departure are analogous with the first time a person is welcomed to the world-washed, prepared and with the detritus of death/birth removed from them.

A dark but not melancholy novel, that looks at the way the living cling to the dead, ‘The Unforgotten’ is part character study, part mystery but all character driven and rendered beautifully through prose that reads like poetry.

Clara’s voice sings from the page and her memories, experiences with death and relationship with Mike are all interwoven with a young girl named Trecie who has taken to appearing at odd times in the funeral parlour. Linus has given her permission to visit but who is she and why does she unsettle Clara?

A beautiful and lyrical yet unusual and thoughtful meditation on death, life and belief, ‘The Unforgotten’ comes highly recommended by this book blogger.

Many thanks to Tracy Fenton, Katie Brown, Trapeze  and Orion for giving me the opportunity to fly the flag for this classic novel.

About The Author

Amy MacKinnon, a former congressional aide, is a freelance writer whose commentaries have appeared in the Seattle Times, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Patriot Ledger and on National Public Radio and This American Life. She lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts with her husband and their three children.

‘The Unforgotten’, aka ‘Tethered’ is her debut novel

http://amymackinnon.com/