A Version of the Truth

A Version of the Truth by B. P. Walter

Published by Avon Books

February 2019

We all see what we want to see…

2019: Julianne is preparing a family dinner when her son comes to her and says he’s found something on his iPad. Something so terrible, it will turn Julianne’s world into a nightmare and make her question everything about her marriage and what type of man her husband is or is pretending to be.

1990: Holly is a fresher student at Oxford University. Out of her depth and nervous about her surroundings, she falls into an uneasy friendship with a group of older students from the upper echelons of society and begins to develop feelings for one in particular. He’s confident, quiet, attractive and seems to like her too. But as the year progresses, her friends’ behaviour grows steadily more disconcerting and Holly begins to realise she might just be a disposable pawn in a very sinister game.

A devastating secret has simmered beneath the surface for over twenty-five years. Now it’s time to discover the truth. But what if you’re afraid of what you might find?

A Version of the Truth is the debut novel by B. P.Walter and it's an interesting but dark novel.  When your son discovers something on the home pc, do you believe what your eyes saw, what your son believes to be true, or your husband's account of what you thought you saw?  This is the exact predicament that Julianne is up against.  Her son Stephen discovers some files in the family dropbox account and what he sees there he his convinced is pretty sinister.  He tells her about it, and she later confronts her husband James about the contents.  He spins her a line about the files being used as information for MI5 and nothing to actually do with him per se, and that she should just forget about it all.

Julianne probably could forget about it all if, twelve months previously, she hadn't been approached by a journalist asking probing questions about James.  Finding these files triggers her memory back to that meeting and internally she begins to question what James has told her.  Stephen still isn't convinced that his father is telling the truth - but do either of them actually want to probe deep enough to uncover the real facts?

This storyline is written in tangent with that of Holly, a working class girl who gains a place at Oxford university in 1990 to read English.  There she meets siblings Ally and Ernest, and their friends Peter and James.  She is both captivated by the attitude their wealth and status gives them all, and repulsed at the same time.  Like most girls at the university she is captivated by James.  Their behaviour to Holly and to each other does leave a lot to be desired though and one night, what starts as innocent fun with a game of Truth or Dare soon as tragic consequences for Holly.

As you can imagine these two storylines are of course linked, and by the end of the novel you can see how the lives of Holly and Julianne are intertwined.  For me not everything was resolved however by the turning of the final page.  It felt a little like there could be a sequel to this book, a what happens after tome waiting in the wings.  The build-up was good and Walter has created some characters that are truly despicable but that we as a reader know exist as high up members of our society today.  I just felt a little unsatisfied that those who should have got their just deserts didn't.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x