Helen Fitzgerald writes books that seem made for television: compelling page-turners with characters pushed well beyond their limits. Child kidnappings, viral videos, couples on the brink – it’s the stuff of train wrecks and soap operas and there’s certainly no shortage of viewers for either.
In Keep Her Sweet, Fitzgerald’s latest thriller, a therapist navigating her own family crisis finds comfort in the disintegration of others. Joy, on the brink of retirement, dreams of moving to the UK to be with her sister, Rosie. But Joy’s 42-year-old daughter Jeanie is coming out of rehab for the fourth time, and Joy doesn’t want to leave until she’s sure that Jeanie is going to be OK. In the meantime, she comforts herself with the misery of her clients; usually, their unhappy lives make her own bearable by comparison.
