Tegan is 27 years old and suddenly she is thrown out of her home within The Last Week Community in London. Tegan has lived with this religious cult for 22 years, so how will she manage alone in the big wild world? Thankfully relatives living near Aberystwyth in west Wales give her a hand to cope with modern secular life. Follow Tegan on her journey to Wales, freedom and love.
I was put onto Mary Grand by a friend on Goodreads which was welcome as she had not crossed my radar before. Mary was born in Cardiff where I have lived since 1991, so I felt a connection there. When I started to read this book, I fell in love with Mary’s writing style. My wife Gail has lived in Cardiff all her life and Mary writes the way Welsh women talk and tell stories. That local character and voice really shines through, even to an Englishman living in Wales, like myself. Free to Be Tegan was her debut novel.
Free to Be Tegan is NOT a mystery or a thriller. The plot is very obvious because of the strong hints from the very beginning. There are no surprises in this story. But what you do get is a warm, cosy, loving tale of a young woman thrown into modern day life from one of religious oppression.
I liked the way this story was told. The writing is articulate and of quality. Character development is good and I quickly developed an empathy for Tegan. Nicely explored within the story was the place for women within religion and society in general. Religious cults were explained and how leavers can adjust to mainstream society. But all this was told in a light, gentle and loving manner.
Being an Atheist I found the religious aspects of this story funny. But then most of this book is told in a light mocking tone for example…
‘I hope you’re right.’ Hannah looked at her watch. ‘OK, you two, out of here. Someone needs to make an effort for this evening. I shall be wearing this season’s Ralph Lauren. Impressive, eh?’ She looked at their blank faces. ‘No, you don’t get it, do you? Might as well be Primark.’
...And...
She tried to block out the cold rainy days back in Wales, those endless bloody fields, people always wrapped up in layers of clothes.
...So as I read through Free to Be Tegan, her life got better, she recovered from her time with the religious cult and she found love in Wales. This story has a happy ending. The really nice thing about this book is the feel good factor that leaps out from the pages. From the start, although Tegan has been thrown out onto the streets of London, there is hope that family back in Wales would make things right.
Ah, there’s lovely. I think that Free to Be Tegan is a 4 star TIDY read. Thanks Mary for writing such a good, loving family story that can be enjoyed by both men and women.
Free to be Tegan was written in 2015 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.
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