One For Sorrow by Sophia Moseley

July 18, 2024

Engaging, Intriguing, Cleverly Constructed

Contemporary Fiction/Family Drama

One for sorrow by Sophia Moseley Writer  

Leaving your baby girl with a family member, should be something that any individual wouldn’t think twice about. However when Laura left Charlotte with her Grandma that day, she already had well founded doubts about her mother-in-law’s ability to care for her child in a way in which she felt appropriate. Coming from a different generation, Laura was all too aware that she and Sandra had wildly opposing views as to how to bring up children.
As a result, and as an adult, Charlotte was now living with paranoia, fear, a deep-routed phobia, and due to the folklore that surrounded the object of her terror, superstition was also playing a part in her daily life. However, worst was yet to come as she never expected that revealing that fragility to the person who held her future in the palm of his hand, would be her undoing…….

I follow Sophia Moseley on Facebook and in the run up to the release of this book, I had been championing it, as the title and the synopsis intrigued me. However, it hadn’t occurred to me that it was a short story until a few days before the launch of ‘One for sorrow’. Short stories have always been a genre that I have struggled with as I like to really get to know the author’s characters in a book and don’t feel that a short story really allows for this, and only serves a purpose when there is a message to convey or a riddle to make you think.  

This book started promisingly, as I am very into anything grounded in a character’s psychological status, and Charlotte’s situation certainly got my attention. However, I think the kind of narrative I was looking for from reading the initial chapter, was what she did after being in that situation, rather than launching into her back story. Although I realise that this was crucial in being able to understand her initial predicament. 
I was extremely curious to discover what the phobia that the synopsis mentions was caused by. For me, this didn’t quite hit the mark, as I had guessed what it was before the reveal. I was also hoping for something a bit darker maybe, but also thought it clever the way in which the author picked something that is already  steeped in superstition and British Folklore giving it even more of a hook on which to hang the phobia.

Toby and Jason were sinister characters and some of the thoughts that they had concerning the females in their lives made me a bit uncomfortable, as I wasn’t expecting those kinds of characters I suppose. The lengths at which Toby goes to eliminate the second 'fowl of folklore' is chilling, so keen is he to play on his bride’s insecurities, and I thought that purposely going to the trouble of ensuring Jason released two of them for Charlotte to witness was a cruel thing to do, even if the connotation was disguised to appear admirable. I found the description of what Jason did to one of the creatures very unsettling and was glad when it was finally released from its misery.  

Toby’s back story was very clever with his unfortunate encounter with Adrian. That was an occurrence I did not foresee, and even when I thought I’d worked it out, I was wrong.

I personally felt that the discovery of the weapon by Charlotte, seemed a little odd as I did not think that Toby would be using it in the way he explained he was if, his intention was for Charlotte to be caused the blind panic that the reader is lead to believe engulfs her, leading to his deception and mental manipulation. Even if she were to see more than one at a time, it would surely still affect her this way. If you have a phobia of any kind, regardless of the folklore, I wouldn’t think that the number of them would be significant. After all when she would have an adverse reaction as a child, she wouldn’t have been aware of the associated rhyme......or maybe it had been used in other more sinister ways. 

In summing up, ‘One For Sorrow’ sadly wasn’t perhaps the right read for me in the end, but I will be looking at what else this lovely lady has written.