Book review: A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw

I worried a little as I started A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw as it’s about dementia which hits too close to home at the moment. I recently read another book about someone with memory issues and mentioned in that review that my father had dementia and my mother (albeit at 80 years of age, so is expected) is starting to show memory lapses and some confusion. However, Maxine, one of our two lead characters here and who’s showing signs of memory loss is only 58.

Maxine has been losing things lately. Her car in the shopping centre carpark. Important work files—and her job as a result. Her marbles? ‘Mild cognitive impairment’, according to the doctor. Time for a nursing home, according to her daughter, Rose.

Rose has her own troubles with a recurring vision of a locked cupboard, claustrophobic panic. Something in the shadows. Something to do with the old family house in Kutarere.

Back in that house by the beach, Maxine and Rose try to find their bearings. But they can’t move forward without dealing with the past—and the past has a few more surprises in store.

Shaw’s been able to place readers in the minds of both mother and daughter (Maxine and Rose) here. It took me a while to get used to expecting the alternating voice but suspect labelling each chapter with the name of our narrator is probably also overkill. But we certainly get a sense of who they are and they feel very real. I found myself invested in their stories – Maxine’s memory issues and her confusion, as well as her determination that there’s something from the past she needs to deal with. And then there’s Rose and her desperation to get pregnant, unsure how supportive her husband remains.

We also meet a younger Maxine and learn more about her childhood, including her prickly relationship with her mother and the death of her father. It’s hinted initially but we ultimately learn more about Maxine’s relationship with Rose’s father and his escalating violence (trigger warning: domestic and family violence). I liked that Shaw tackles head-on the fact that Maxine’s professional life as a social worker, dealing with dysfunctional relationships and families, is contrasted with her personal life and fact she’s fallen into behaviour she sees in her clients. And of course bookclubs might like to consider how her younger years fed into some of her teenage rebellion and eagerness to be loved and accepted. (Even at a cost.)

I would perhaps havealso liked a little more consideration of Maxine’s differing relationships with her brothers and this might also be excellent bookclub discussion fodder. We do meet one in the present, with whom she has always been close. I must admit I was a bit surprised where Shaw takes his story and wondered if it complicated an already complex story beyond what was needed as that thread isn’t really addressed in any detail.

In the book’s Foreward Shaw talks about her mother’s experience with Lewy Body Dementia and its physiological impacts on the brain and memory. And though I know it’s a physiological I did ponder whether some of Maxine’s early struggles – the loss of her father, relationship with her mother and then the events with Tony and Rose combined with the sad reality of her work – contributed in any way. If trauma has exacerbated or triggered what might not have been as challenging otherwise.

We’re privy to a short slice of time in Rose and Maxine’s life, but it’s a pivotal one. Shaw’s development of our two lead characters and their stories certainly stands out here as well as their relationship and the way it’s changed over time. She also very deftly hints at past secrets that are eventually – quite shockingly – revealed. And though we might have had an inkling I still found myself turning the last page (metaphorically as I was reading an electronic review copy) wondering what would happen next.

A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw was published in Australia in late July 2024 by Text Publishing.

** I had a couple of questions about the ending or rather some thoughts about something that’s revealed in the book. I’ve put that as a #spoiler question in my Goodreads review for those who’ve also read the book.**

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.