TLC Book Tours: Golden Child by Claire Adam

Title: Golden Child 
Author: Claire Adam
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: SJP for Hogarth
Publish Date: January 29, 2019
Source: TLC Book Tours

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons, thirteen years old, wake early every morning to travel to the capital, Port of Spain, for school. They are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness.

When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn't come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who has caused him endless trouble already, and who he has never really understood. And as the hours turn to days, and Clyde begins to understand Paul's fate, his world shatters--leaving him faced with a decision no parent should ever have to make."

My Two Cents:

"Golden Child" is the story of two very different twins. Peter is gifted in school. Paul has always struggled and has a learning disability. Having twins myself, I have always been drawn to stories about twins. Through this book, you can see the unique bond that Paul and Peter have. Although they are twins, they are very different. Their story is set against the backdrop of 1980s Trinidad, a place fraught by violence and danger.

The family dynamics in this book really drove the story. We get to know the twins' parents, Clyde and Joy. They want the best for their sons. They also struggle with how to help each son meet their potential when they are so different. The relationship between the brothers was also really interesting to read about. I know from seeing my own twins, there is nothing like the twin bond. All of these relationships take lots of twists and turns throughout the book.

The storytelling in the book was solid but very much focuses on descriptions of characters and their innermost thoughts about different things. This book took me awhile to get into but overall it was enjoyable.

I really liked the setting of the book. I really didn't know much about Trinidad before reading this book and definitely did know anything about Trinidad in the time period that the book takes place in. The politics of the country during that time were really interesting.