The Man in the Needlecord Jacket follows the story of two women who are each struggling to let go of a long-term destructive partnership. Felicity is reluctant to detach from her estranged archaeologist husband and, after being banished from the family home, she sets out to test the stability of his relationship with his new love, Marianne.
When Felicity meets Coll, a charismatic artist, she has high hopes of being distracted from her failed marriage. What she doesn’t know is that he has a partner, Sarah, with whom he has planned a future. Sarah is deeply in love with Coll, but his controlling behaviour and associations with other women have always made her life difficult. When he becomes obsessed with Felicity, Sarah’s world collapses and a series of events is set in motion that will challenge the integrity of all the characters involved.
The Man in the Needlecord Jacket is a thought-provoking book, written from the perspectives of Sarah and Felicity. The reader is in the privileged position of knowing what’s going on for both of the women, while each of them is being kept in the dark about a very important issue.
Inspired by the work of Margaret Atwood and Fay Weldon, Linda explores the issue of mental abuse in partnerships and the grey area of an infidelity that is emotional, not physical. The book will appeal to readers interested in the psychology of relationships, as well as fans of Linda’s ‘Lydia’ series.
My Thoughts:
The Man in the Needlecord Jacket is in many ways different from my usual sort of read and having never read any of the Author's 'Lydia' series I was unsure what to expect. What I came across was an extremely thought provoking portrayal of relationships those with others and to a lesser extent with ourselves.
The focus of the story is two women Felicity and Sarah. Felicity has split from her husband and finds herself often alone in her new flat longing for the days of safety and security in her marriage. Although she was quite responsible for its demise, I couldn't help to some extent to admire her temerity.
Sarah is very different from Felicity, she is seemingly the long suffering partner of Coll. Never quite having the happy love story that she wants, the commitment or the connection with Coll. She seems to continue because it is what she is used to and she almost comes across as thinking she doesn't deserve better.
Coll is the most curious character of all, coming off to Felicity as charming, enigmatic and charismatic. He offers a certain lure to her, more that just selling her paintings for her restaurant. Coll behaves in a very different way with Felicity that he doesn't with Sarah.
I found it refreshing to read this story as the characters are a little older and were perfect having had life and relationship experience. This is by no means a light hearted story of relationships. I found the characters very three dimensional and the relationship dynamics tackled very interesting.
The Author has shone a very bright and bold light on mental abuse in relationships and the grey area of how that is made up. She has really got to the heart and mind of the matter and for that I applaud her.
The Man in the Needlecord Jacket is in many ways different from my usual sort of read and having never read any of the Author's 'Lydia' series I was unsure what to expect. What I came across was an extremely thought provoking portrayal of relationships those with others and to a lesser extent with ourselves.
The focus of the story is two women Felicity and Sarah. Felicity has split from her husband and finds herself often alone in her new flat longing for the days of safety and security in her marriage. Although she was quite responsible for its demise, I couldn't help to some extent to admire her temerity.
Sarah is very different from Felicity, she is seemingly the long suffering partner of Coll. Never quite having the happy love story that she wants, the commitment or the connection with Coll. She seems to continue because it is what she is used to and she almost comes across as thinking she doesn't deserve better.
Coll is the most curious character of all, coming off to Felicity as charming, enigmatic and charismatic. He offers a certain lure to her, more that just selling her paintings for her restaurant. Coll behaves in a very different way with Felicity that he doesn't with Sarah.
I found it refreshing to read this story as the characters are a little older and were perfect having had life and relationship experience. This is by no means a light hearted story of relationships. I found the characters very three dimensional and the relationship dynamics tackled very interesting.
The Author has shone a very bright and bold light on mental abuse in relationships and the grey area of how that is made up. She has really got to the heart and mind of the matter and for that I applaud her.
About the Author:
Linda MacDonald is the author of four novels: Meeting Lydia and the stand-alone sequels, A Meeting of a Different Kind, The Alone Alternative and The Man in the Needlecord Jacket. All Linda's books are contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues.
After studying psychology at Goldsmiths', Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. The first two novels took ten years in writing and publishing, using snatched moments in the evenings, weekends and holidays. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.
After studying psychology at Goldsmiths', Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. The first two novels took ten years in writing and publishing, using snatched moments in the evenings, weekends and holidays. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.
You can find her on Twitter: @LindaMac1
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