An Invisible Tattoo is a powerful story of female friendship, long held secrets and the ongoing battle for equality for women.
Narrated by both Ruth and Kate in Contemporary Sydney and a second timeline of Somerset 1972 is narrated through Ruth's reminiscence.
Kate, a young journalist, is hoping, through Ruth, to get the scoop of a lifetime.
There is a lot to unpack in An Invisible Tattoo. The title refers to the imprint friendships leave on us, an impression, although invisible, that is carried within us forever.
1972 - Ruth's friendship with Adela takes her to Somerset, where Adela is married to famous singer songwriter James Bennett. Here we delve into the hedonistic, bohemian days of the early 70's. Drugs, alcohol and sexual freedom. It was a huge time for feminists however, Dainty points out that the freedoms of the time still seemed to be ruled by men.
Present day - Kate is wily and uses her charms to get Ruth to open up and spill the beans about Adela and James' relationship and more importantly about the night he died. Everyone else living in the house at the time have died and the discovery of new songs, hidden in an attic, has the world eager to find out what happened on that fateful night.
I loved that we got both Ruth and Kate's point of view. They are very similar in personality. Ruth shows that old and frail doesn't necessarily mean senile. She's stringing Kate along and knows exactly what she's doing. She enjoys the company and she wants to prolong Kate's visits.
An Invisible Tattoo has an underlying mystery surrounding Bennett's death. It is also a story about working out what you want in life and Dainty throws in a moral dilemma for Kate to ponder. I enjoyed Kate's character growth.
The twist at the end was unexpected and certainly added weight to the themes included.
My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publisher: Echo Publishing
Publication date: 1st April 2025
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 309
RRP: AU$32.99 (paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
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