Two Unknown reviewed by fran lewis

[Fran Lewis]

Two Unknown

Author: Alan Hamilton

You live your life hoping it will be fulfilled with joy and happiness with two parents who love and adore you. Every child hopes that his/her parents will be proud of them giving them the encouragement, support and love they need in order to become productive adults. But, Jessica and David, twins, two very special children who lost out on life before having been given a chance to succeed. Their mother, Veronica was taken from them by flu that in 1928 consumed and killed many young and old. Those that survived were lucky, but many did not. Jessica and David were taken in and cared for by Dr. Ian Markham their mother’s lover. Dr. Markham loved and adored Veronica and in his own unique yet inappropriate way, as the reader will learn, her two children too. Two Unknown brings to light many issues faced not only in 1928 by today as well. Abuse of any kind is wrong and children often deal with situations in order to cope with not feeling inadequate, ashamed or unworthy. Bullying is a serious form of abuse faced by many in schools and sometimes ignored by those in charge. What happens when you are a victim of both and you have nowhere to turn, no one to help you and you wind up living your live as if you never existed?

 

 

 

But, to care for two young children you need a mother figure and that is just what Alice Markham was- a figure- someone to help with the care of the children and even more important to help our young doctor succeed in private practice by giving him the necessary funds for a lucrative partnership with two other doctors. What could be better? For him possibly nothing but for Jessica who has been the object of his affection and David the brunt of bullying in his school and frequent beatings and belittling remarks by the adults running the school, not so great. David is not interested in Rugby, outdoor sports and games and although the teachers and Masters in his school realize what he is up against with the other students, rather than support him they encourage them instead leaving David to fend for himself and hopefully find some support in Jessica. As Ian’s arrangement with his wife Alice is strictly monetary, lucrative for him and for her she is able to work with him in his surgery, Jessica soon comes to realize that she and Alice are rivals for one man’s attention and affection: Her father. Alice is not your typical mother who dotes on her children with kindness and affection. She is cold, critical, yet all too blunt and honest at times as she sees things more clearly and you hear her words as the author introduces each character and we know that the job of mother is not one Alice really wants or cares about. Illusions are not just created by magicians but sometimes by others that orchestrate events to make things appear to be one way when they are really not. Jessica and David’s lives appeared to the outside world as normal with two parents who gave them the material things and comforts of home they needed, but lack the one thing all kids craved: Joy, love and laughter. Although both were the children of his former lover Ian adored Jessica and detested David whose desire to conform to being a rugged outdoor male was anything but what he wanted to be which was a girl.

 

As Alice comes to show her ire for Jessica the reader understands that although she provides the implements and tools needed for this young child to deal with her adolescent changes, she fails to deliver the understanding, kindness and love that any real parent would. Alice finds these children in her way, burdensome and would have sent them to a home rather than deal with the moral and social stigma attached to children born out of wedlock if given her way. Added to that she manages to enlist the ear of Ian in order to further curtail Jessica’s social engagements eluding to the fact she might have some illicit purpose and not wanting her to wind up like her mother, an unwed parent. On the opposite side we find David, brutally chastised, physically and mentally abused and made to feel less that worthy of being part of a school that breeds contempt for those not athletically inclined and prejudice to students that are different. David could not find any solace or anyone to hear him out, understand the torments underwent in school and the same tirades at home. Not bad enough the Headmaster of the school was anything but what an administrator should be, but his so-called parent was no better disallowing him from speaking and not believing his truths.

 

 

 

Take a rectangle and divide it into four equal quarters each section blocked off by a wall that separates it from the other three quarters. Each section with another person living in it separately although the entire rectangle houses all four. There are four separate lives, voices heard in this extraordinary novel by Alex Hamilton. Each voice is different, each one created by the author to enlighten, bring to the forefront issues faced not only by children but parents too. Jessica, a fourteen-year-old teenager is the mirror image of her late mother. She is manipulative, smart, and difficult to handle at times and yet quite endearing to her stepfather or Ian the man she refers to as Papa. Curious about her mother’s past she will stop at nothing to learn the truth about her late mother’s family and more. David, her twin brother lives in another section apart from the others in this walled rectangle of loneliness. He took harbors his own secrets, feelings and is often chastised by others because he is different. You can hear his voice as he speaks to the headmasters, states his points to his father who rebukes all he stands for and says and harbors his own fears for he is truly different from other young boys his age. Next, is Dr. Ian Markham the father figure in this book who will not accept David for who is he is and wants to be but rather for who he thinks he should be? Cruel and often unrelenting in his manner, disciplinary measures and understanding, Dr. Markham is anything but a real father figure and comes across as heartless and inhumane but to his patients, who bring him the wealth he so desires, he is supreme. Finally, Alice, the stepmother in name only who realizes what Jessica really is and how she works her magic and uses her wiles to create a rift between her and her father in order to gain the ultimate position of woman of the house at all costs to Alice. Alice is cold, unfeeling and does not exude any feminine charm at all. Married for convenience, status and money only she knows that Ian will never find her attractive but feels that the marriage compensates in other respects. Four people living in the same rectangle or house, but separately.

 

 

Ian’s passion is music and the concerts given and going to Manchester to check out a new practice he might want to purchase allows him time with Jessica as he takes her along much to the chagrin and distain of his wife and what occurs will not so much shock the reader but help you understand Ian’s obsession with Jessica, his permanent tie and memory of her late mother and his fixation with her. Sad, but true the events that follow will dishearten your feelings toward this man and possibly create a better understanding of why Alice disliked and distrusted Jessica. Ian Markham had a double agenda: First to make sure that his relationship with Jessica moved to the next and unspeakable level and then to acquire a practice of his own which would be financially lucrative to him and him alone. The second appeared to be difficult and but accomplished the first quite alarming and different. As Ian began to use Jessica for his pleasures and threatened her if she revealed anything to anyone, Jessica sought refuge with her brother hoping they would both escape this man forever. David, beaten both physically and mentally by this sadistic man calling himself a Father, aligns himself with Jessica in her plan to try and escape.

 

Planning their escape and enlisting the help of an adult Jessica and David made their way to the train station for Bristol to hopefully meet their mother’s sister. Fate stepped in and a fatal railway accident ended their lives and that of many others. Both Alice and Ian upon realizing what had happened decided to deal with the issue by not revealing that the children were even missing and the ruse they devised was ingenious to a flaw except for Alice. What happens next created one of the best twists and surprises in a novel that most would have thought ended quite differently. Alice is hit with a conscience, which takes on a whole other turn as author Alan Hamilton enlightens the reader as to how far one woman will go to get it all and never lose it. What does happen to Ian? Ask Alice? Who are the two Unknown that have never been identified and are buried in what most would say this unmarked grave? Figure it out for yourself. Characters that are so well defined and one man so obsessed with his past that he destroyed his future. Two Unknown is definitely one book that should be on America’s and England’s bestseller list. Bringing to light what happens when one man abuses his right as a father and one woman sees through the sham but fails to act. This is one book every parent should read. We need to protect our young and make sure that no one abuses them. One man so caught up in himself and his wants he destroyed so many and the end result is : Two Unknown: Deaths.

 

Fran Lewis: Reviewer

 

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