Review: ‘The Birthday House’, by Jill Treseder

• Paperback: 150 pages
• · Publisher: Silverwood Books (24 Jun. 2019)
• · Language: English
• · ISBN-10: 178132879X
• · ISBN-13: 978-1781328798

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Birthday-House-Jill-Treseder/dp/178132879X

BLURB

The year is 1955, the location picturesque Devon.

In a house by the River Dart, schoolgirl Josephine Kennedy posts invitations to her twelfth birthday party – a party that never takes place.

Horrific violence is committed that night in the family home, leaving all of its occupants dead.

Based on a disturbing real-life crime, this compelling story explores Josephine’s fate through the prism of friends and family – the victims and survivors who unwittingly influenced the events that led up to the tragedy.

Josephine’s best friend, Susan, is haunted by the secrets of the birthday house. Can she ever find a way of making peace with the past?

My Review

Thanks to Anne for organising this blog tour and to the author and publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

In 1955 Jill Treseder’s best friend, Christine Koppenhagen was murdered along with her mother and the family dog, by Howard Koppenhagen, Christine’s father. He then killed himself. This book is a fictionalised retelling of events, attempting to understand the cause of the murders.

Unfortunately, men, and it usually is men[1], killing their families and then themselves isn’t that uncommon, it’s usually caused by the man’s insecurities and feelings of ownership of their wife and children. Anything can set these murderers off, even if it’s just the jealousy in their own heads, although financial worries are sometimes cited. Access to firearms doesn’t help [2], which is why it’s the most common forms of mass murder in the U.S.

This short book tells the fictionalised account of the murder-suicide from multiple viewpoints, framed by the narrator, Susan’s, introspection and heartbreak at losing her childhood friend. It’s an interesting experiment. It’s clear that the author is still very affected by the 1955 tragedy and this book is part of her coming to terms with it, by imagining the feelings of those involved and the events leading up to and following the murders.

It was a heartbreaking short read, with strong regional character and written with a lot of feeling.

Sources

[1] Karlsson, L. C., Antfolk, J., Putkonen, H., Amon, S., da Silva Guerreiro, J., de Vogel, V., … Weizmann-Henelius, G. (2018, December 6). Familicide: A Systematic Literature Review. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/bxjf9

[2] Liem, M., Levin, J., Holland, C. et al. J Fam Viol (2013) 28: 351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9504-2

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: (from http://www.jilltresederwriter.com)

I started writing in a red shiny exercise book when I was seven years old. But in that time and place it was an ‘invalid’ activity, was overlooked, but never went away. It was many years before I felt able to call myself ‘writer’.

But there came a day when the phrase ‘I am a writer’ no longer sounded pretentious, but legitimate, and even necessary. Was it because I had a writing room instead of the corner of a landing? Or because I spent more time writing? Or because I’d got better at it? Or because I get miserable and bad-tempered if I don’t write? Probably a combination of all of the above.

Writing is my third career. The first was as a social worker with children and families, a job I loved, but left because I could no longer cope with the system.

This led to a freelance career as an independent management consultant, helping people to handle emotions in the work context. I worked in the IT industry, in companies large and small, as well as public organisations. Later I became involved in research projects concerned with the multi-disciplinary approach to social problems such as child abuse. So, in a sense, I had come full-circle. All these experiences feed into the process of writing fiction, while my non-fiction book ‘The Wise Woman Within’ resulted indirectly from the consultancy work and my subsequent PhD thesis,‘Bridging Incommensurable Paradigms’, which is available from the School of Management at the University of Bath.

I live in Devon and visit Cornwall frequently and these land and seascapes are powerful influences which demand a presence in my writing.

Writers’ groups and workshops are a further invaluable source of inspiration and support and I attend various groups locally and sign up for creative courses in stunning locations whenever I can. I try doing writing practice at home but there is no substitute for the focus and discipline achieved among others in a group.

I have written some short stories and recently signed up for a short story writing course to explore this genre in more depth.

I live with my husband in South Devon and enjoy being involved in a lively local community.

Twitter @Jill_Treseder