Rachel To The Rescue by Elinor Lipman

Published by Eye Lightning Books

Available from All Good Bookshops and online

What They Say

Rachel Klein is sacked from her job at the White House after she sends an email criticising Donald Trump. As she is escorted off the premises she is hit by a speeding car, driven by what the press will discreetly call ‘a personal friend of the President’.

Does that explain the flowers, the get-well wishes at a press briefing, the hush money offered by a lawyer at her hospital bedside?

Rachel’s recovery is soothed by comically doting parents, matchmaking room-mates, a new job as aide to a journalist whose books aim to defame the President, and unexpected love at the local wine store.

But secrets leak, and Rachel’s new-found happiness has to make room for more than a little chaos. Will she bring down the President? Or will he manage to do that all by himself?

Rachel to the Rescue is a mischievous political satire, with a delightful cast of characters, from one of America’s funniest novelists.

What I Say

There are times as a reader when you discover an author, and wonder how you could possibly have not known their books, and then you want to read everything they have ever written.

This happened to me when Scott Pack and Sarra Manning recommended Elinor Lipman – and I hope that lots of you will trust me when I tell you that you really should read Elinor’s novels too.

Elinor’s latest novel Rachel To The Rescue from Eye Lightning Books, is an absolute joy from the very first page to the last, and one that needs to be on your reading radar immediately.

Rachel Klein reluctantly works at the White House where she is tasked with sticking back together all the correspondence that President Trump rips up, as all correspondence must be kept. Rachel is far from a Trump fan, and when she accidentally sends an email to everyone telling them what she really thinks of him, unsurprisingly she is fired and abruptly escorted from the White House.

As she leaves, she is knocked over by a speeding car, and the next thing she knows, she is waking up in hospital with her parents beside her, and some very unsettled lawyers from the White House who are very keen to talk to Rachel about what happened, and how they can ‘help’..

It transpires that she was knocked over by President Trumps alleged lover, and from that moment on, Rachel’s life changes forever. The details of the accident find their way onto the internet, and Rachel suddenly becomes very interesting to a lot of people. Unemployed and facing the prospect of having to move back in with her parents, Rachel realises she needs to find a job. She eventually manages to find work with a writer called Kirby Champion, whose speciality is writing lengthy books about political figures. In his eyes, Rachel offers a way for him to get a chance to work on the most explosive story he has heard, and gain the attention and notoriety he craves. Together, they try to work out who Trump’s elusive alleged lover is, and as they get deeper into their investigations, they stumble into a complex world of lies, complex relationships and unhappy marriages.

At the same time, Rachel is tentatively taking steps towards romance. When she meets Alex who works in the local wine store, with the help of her roommates, she plucks up the courage to go out with him.

Little by little, Rachel’s different worlds start to come closer together, until everyone knows each other’s business, and Rachel realises that amid the chaos finally she has found the happiness and life she really wants.

If I had to tell you why I recommend this (and all of Elinor’s writing) to you, I would say that Elinor’s writing is just glorious. The dialogue is perfectly pitched and zings off the page, and the plot is fast paced which works so well- it never feels forced or contrived. It genuinely made me laugh out loud, and is consistently so funny and smart that it is begging to be made into a film.

Another reason why I loved it is because quite frankly, it is just so refreshing to read a novel where the main character is the sort of person you would want as a friend! Rachel undoubtedly faces challenges in her professional and personal life, but her warmth and candour only make you hope that it all works out for her. She is neither self pitying or looking for sympathy, Rachel just genuinely wants to get on with her life and be happy – and I loved that about her.

For me, I thought the idea of family and belonging was also a strong theme throughout the novel. Rachel is lucky to have such devoted and involved parents, but the novel also shows that family doesn’t have to only be those people you are related to. Her friends, boyfriend and boss all become inextricably linked, but it only adds to the fabric of her life and there was a real sense of community and belonging in her world. It is an encouraging and hopeful idea, especially as the novel is so firmly rooted in the realities of America in 2020 – the Trump Administration and the Covid -19 pandemic.

Rachel To The Rescue wasn’t able to find a publisher in the United States because of the plot, which is why EyeLightning Books published it here. I for one, as a new Elinor Lipman fan, am so incredibly glad they did.

If you haven’t read any Elinor Lipman, or are looking for a novel that simply lifts you up and brings you joy, then you need to read Rachel to The Rescue. This is the second Elinor Lipman novel I’ve read, and if I tell you I hunted down three more since I finished it, you can see just how much I love Elinor’s writing, and I hope that lots of you quite rightly fall in love with her novels too.

Thank you so much to Dan and Scott at Eye Lightning Books for my gifted copy.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

Published by Fig Tree Books on 15th October

Available from all Good Bookshops and Online

What They Say

Nina Dean has arrived at her early thirties as a successful food writer with loving friends and family, plus a new home and neighbourhood. When she meets Max, a beguiling romantic hero who tells her on date one that he’s going to marry her, it feels like all is going to plan.

A new relationship couldn’t have come at a better time – her thirties have not been the liberating, uncomplicated experience she was sold. Everywhere she turns, she is reminded of time passing and opportunities dwindling. Friendships are fading, ex-boyfriends are moving on and, worse, everyone’s moving to the suburbs. There’s no solace to be found in her family, with a mum who’s caught in a baffling mid-life makeover and a beloved dad who is vanishing in slow-motion into dementia.

Dolly Alderton’s debut novel is funny and tender, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships, family, memory, and how we live now.

What I Say

In 1992, when I was 21 years old, I thought that I was going out with the man of my dreams. We had met through some voluntary work I was doing while at Leeds Uni, and he seemed to me to be perfect.

At the time I ignored the fact he didn’t turn up when he said he would, understood how he was always working and that’s why he was never in when I called (these are the days long before mobile phones), and brushed aside the fact that our ‘dates’ lasted no longer than a couple of hours at best. One day he dropped me off at my new house share in Leeds, carefully took (and repeated back!) my new number, promised to call me later and I never saw or heard from him again. That was until I saw him in a Leeds pub with his new girlfriend, and watched the colour drain from his face as he hurried them out of the door.

Six months after the last time I saw him, broken hearted, devastated and with my self confidence in pieces, I went to my friends house for dinner, to discover that they had set me up on a blind date.

Twenty eight years later, and married still to my Blind Date, it was the best dinner party I’ve been to.

The reason I wanted to share that story, is because Dolly Alderton’s first novel Ghosts resonated with me completely. It perfectly captures not only what it feels like when someone ‘ghosts’ you, but also shows how difficult it is to navigate your way through the unexpected demands of adult life when everyone and everything else around you seems to be so organised and settled.

Nina Dean is a food writer who is starting the next phase of her life by moving into a new flat after breaking up with her long term boyfriend Joe. With the encouragement of her quite frankly fabulous (I loved her!) friend Lola, Nina decides to start online dating, and meets Max.

As they tentatively start a relationship, Dolly perfectly captures the delicious anticipation of the first meeting, the first kiss and the long, perfect conversations to try and learn everything about each other as Nina and Max become closer. While Nina starts her relationship with Max, she is also aware that Katherine, her oldest friend, as well as physically moving away, is emotionally becoming distant from her as Katherine deals with the reality of the not always Instaperfect grind of motherhood.

Their once unbreakable bond is starting to fracture, as Nina and Katherine are taking different paths, and neither can fully understand or appreciate what the other is dealing with. Nina finds this hard, and doesn’t want to lose her best friend, but feels that they have less and less in common. Katherine is occupied with her husband, daughter Olive, and being pregnant, while Nina is trying to maintain her career, have a relationship with Max, and deal with what is happening with her parents.

Nina and her Mum Nancy – who has decided she now wants to be called Mandy, in a never ending quest to live her life to the fullest, are having to come to terms with the fact that Nina’s Dad Bill, who was a well loved and respected teacher, is facing the reality of life with dementia. Dolly writes so insightfully and knowingly about the impact of dementia on a family. The creeping realisation of the strain of caring for someone 24 hours a day, and the grieving process you have to go through for the future that you never wanted anyway, elevated Ghosts to another level completely for me.

Nina and Nancy have not been close for a long time, and they know that they have to attempt to connect with each other as they try to navigate this unforeseen life. They have to face the fact that the man who has created so many memories for them and countless others is now increasingly becoming frustrated and bewildered by a world he no longer recognises – and for the reader it is just as heartbreaking to read. I wondered if the title Ghosts was also about the idea that as we grow up, there are times that people can no longer be truly fully present in our lives, and that all we have are the memories of what they once were.

As Nina tries to come to terms with what her dad is going through, the fact that Joe is now happily in another relationship with Lucy, and the publisher’s rejection of her latest book, she believes at least she has a relationship.

Until one day Max simply disappears.

Nina’s attempts to contact him come to nothing, and suddenly the future she believed she was going to have, has been denied by the one person she wanted to share it with.

What worked so well for me about this novel was that Dolly writes such real and believable characters. I felt such empathy with Nina as she tries to process what has happened, and that is because I really liked her. When Lola is ghosted too by her boyfriend Jethro, who has promised to marry her, Nina visits him and in her anger at his betrayal, she perfectly articulates the difference in how men and women are allowed and expected to behave in relationships. That scene works so well and makes such an impact- because it’s true.

Max’s eventual reappearance and remorse for disappearing from Nina’s life, could in a lesser writers hands have been clichéd and formulaic. As Nina comes to terms with what Max has done and what their future holds (no, I’m not going to tell you, read the book!), she has to make decisions about their relationship and her life and Dolly uses the plot and our connection to Nina to do this perfectly – because she makes you really care about all the people in the novel.

The pace and narrative is natural and moves along at just the right speed. There are numerous brilliant observations and scenes which depict the horrors of hen dos, the difference as to how men and women prepare for weddings, and how they deal with parenthood. Ghosts is filled with so many funny and relatable scenes about families and relationships that I just wanted to underline paragraphs and pages to come back to.

Ghosts is a novel not only about the ever shifting social minefield that is the changing friendships and relationships as we get older, but is also a perfectly pitched and tender exploration as to the demands and stresses that a family has to go through when someone you love so deeply is becoming a ghost of their former selves. Dolly Alderton writes with total clarity and insight about love, family and the fear and ultimately grief you have to endure when a family member slips away from you in front of your eyes.

Ghosts undoubtedly for me is that very rare thing – a novel I absolutely didn’t want to end.

I completely loved it, and it will be one of my #MostSelfishReads2020.

Thank you so much to Hannah Sawyer at Fig Tree for my gifted proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

Published by Johnathan Cape

Available from all Good Bookshops and Online

What They Say

Something unspeakable has happened to sisters July and September.

Desperate for a fresh start, their mother Sheela moves them across the country to an old family house that has a troubled life of its own. Noises come from behind the walls. Lights flicker of their own accord. Sleep feels impossible, dreams are endless.

In their new, unsettling surroundings, July finds that the fierce bond she’s always had with September – forged with a blood promise when they were children – is beginning to change in ways she cannot understand.

Taut, transfixing and profoundly moving, Sisters explodes with the fury and joy of adolescence. It is a story of sibling love and sibling envy that fans of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King will devour.

What I Say

“I am a shape cut out of the universe, tinged with ever-dying stars – and she is the creature to fill the gap I leave in this world.”

Sisters by Daisy Johnson was a novel that was firmly on my most anticipated reads at the start of this year, and I was thrilled to be gifted a copy by Mia. However, as any book blogger knows, putting any book on such a list immediately puts a lot of pressure on that book and yourself – what if it doesn’t live up to your expectations? How do you review it after hyping it up so much?

Honestly, it was not the novel I was expecting, but it was all the better for it. Sisters is a story that right from the start is filled with the uneasy sense that something is very amiss in the family who have travelled hastily to a remote location in Yorkshire called Settle House.

Sheela and her daughters July and September arrive at their new home and as soon as they get inside, Sheela disappears upstairs and leaves the girls to get on with it. This sets the tone for the novel in that the focus is totally on the sisters, born ten months apart and who are not only inseparable, but also are so close that it is difficult to see where one sister starts and the other one ends.

As the girls explore the delapidated house, which is cold and unwelcoming and still has clothes and belongings from previous residents, they are left to fend for themselves as their mother stays in her bedroom. As they attempt to find something to eat, to amuse themselves and ease into their new house, it seems that they are almost feral and unworldly in their appetites, and their mother has decided to hide herself away from them.

The mother’s immediate disconnection and inability to deal with or care for her daughters makes you wonder what has happened and whether the mother has any maternal feelings for her daughters at all.

The location and inaccessibility of the house adds to the mysterious and unsettling tone that permeates every page of this novel. There is the sense that the intense relationship between the sisters is not quite as straightforward as we would think, and that something we are yet to discover has sent the family to this remote place.

Life at school has been difficult for July, who has been bullied and exploited when she is co-erced into sending an explicit picture to a phone number who she believes is Ryan, the boy she is attracted to. There are also hints that an incident happened at the school tennis courts and that from then on, July and September’s world was never the same again.

Daisy Johnson has created sisters that seem to have this innate unspoken power, existing in a world that they inhabit so completely that to allow anyone else in would some how diminish their bond. This is what makes the novel even more intriguing, as nothing is explicitly stated – it is up to the reader to try and piece the plot together.

I also felt that there were constant connections between how the Settle House is described, and the changes that take place in the girls. At times it seems that the house is creaking, growing and keeping secrets stowed safely in its walls, and now that July and September are living here, they too are part of the life cycle of this house. This connection is depicted even more strongly in Part Two as we see all the events and family events the house has borne witness to over the years.

As the narrative shifts between July, and her mother Sheela we discover both the difficult history of the family and the house. As the novel moves between scenes of domestic life and almost folklore horror, the truth about this family slowly and tantalisingly emerges – and left this reader somewhat speechless.

Sisters is not only an engaging and absorbing novel about the claustrophobic relationship between July and September, it is also a story of a family adrift and in the depths of grief that constantly changes direction and pulls the reader along with it. Daisy Johnson’s narrative moves along so well and with so much conviction in all of her characters, that when you have finished it, you feel that you understand July and September so well that the ending couldn’t possibly have been anything else.

I loved it.

Thank you so much to Mia Quebell-Smith at Jonathan Cape for my gifted copy.

An Archive of Happiness by Elizabeth Reeder

Published by Penned in the Margins on 15th September

Available from all Good Bookshops or Online

What They Say

An Archive of Happiness is set in the Scottish Highlands over the course of one day during the Avens familys annual get-together. Its the summer solstice and theirs is a fractured family, broken by arguments, by things said and not said, by a mother who has left and a father who was left behind. What happens on this day will force them to cleave together to survive and redraw the traditional bonds of family.

What I Say

As soon as I heard about Elizabeth Reeder’s novel, I was immediately intrigued, as a fractured family coming together for one day is something that always draws me to novels. As I have a very small family, geographically distanced, and with our own personal challenges, getting us all together is not a common event.

In this novel, it is clear that the Avens family may be separated too, but that the familial bond, fuelled by childhood disappointments and issues that have dogged them for years, draws them back together more tightly than they could ever have envisioned.

The story seemingly takes place over one day, but in fact the novel is made up of all their life stories, the choices they have made and the lives they have lived until this point. When the plot culminates in them coming together one Summer Solstice Day – it paves the way for a tragic event that will mean they have to come together and face the world as a united family.

The Avens family we meet is made up of very different characters. The father Sonny, the mother Viv who one day simply disappears, and their children Ben, Nic and April. Viv’s sister Grace also lives nearby and has become a surrogate mother to the children, and a shoulder to lean on for Sonny, who has struggled with the challenges of looking after three children on his own. The ramifications of Viv’s disappearance affects each child in very different ways, and is felt intensely by each of them, although they show it differently.

Ben we learn was physically assaulted by Viv and he retaliated. His life after her leaving is peppered with anger and his inability to settle, and his sensitivity and unhappiness and distance from his Dad at one point led him to attempt suicide – when his sister covered for him.

Nic has a determination to lead her own life and is fiercely independent. She decides to buy a Croft on her own, and wants to set herself up in business fixing and designing tools. Even when she meets Charlie, her future husband, she is insistent that she does what she wants, and will not be limited by other people’s expectations.

April and Nic have always been close, and after not being able to find a job April likes, she has started working in a local pub, and has found her own happiness and talent in working there. She has also met someone – Col, who is going through his own challenges and is quietly undergoing his own personal transformation.

As the novel moves through the day to the time when the family are due to meet up, each chapter has a timeline at the top with the current time in bold lettering, and also there are clock symbols depicting the current time through certain chapters. This stylistically gives a sense for the reader as to where we are in the day. Right from the start, you are aware that something momentous is going to happen – you don’t know when and how. Elizabeth Reeder pushes and pulls the reader through different times – the past, the present and the future, and the only way you know this is by looking at the clock and the chapter headings. It serves to bring you closer to the characters as each time shift tells us more about them.

At times, this can be slightly disorientating – you have to concentrate and I found myself trying to focus where I was in terms of the time of the characters stories. However, I think this works, because it also gives the story that sense of how our memories and recollections work. We may start at one place and find ourselves somewhere totally different- but the fact of the matter is that this is what our memories of families are – disjointed, sprawling, true and unique to each of us.

It is impossible to talk about this novel without acknowledging it is firmly rooted in the natural world, and the Avens family’s daily lives and experiences are absolutely intertwined with the environment around them. The language is poetic, the descriptions of the landscape and the weather are evocative and you feel you could lose yourself in this world. There is always the sense of the magnitude of nature, and how insignificant we are, but this is balanced by the fact that the characters also feel hemmed in at times by this place, and the need to forge their own identities.

An Archive of Happiness is a novel that for me defies categorisation. There are so many different themes carried throughout the pages – love, grief, parenting, anger and LGBTQ are just some of them. The thing is, it works well because they are integrated seamlessly into the plot, and I genuinely liked all the main characters too. They felt real, relatable and you understood why they did what they did – and at times your heart aches for them. There is a huge life changing event for all of them – (no, I’m not going to tell you) and this not only was totally unexpected, but was also the very thing that made everyone realise how crucial they really all are to each other’s lives and happiness.

If you love novels that are not usual linear narratives, and really push the reader in terms of emotional connection and an understanding of the inner workings of a real family, this is just the novel you are looking for.

Thank you so much to Kate at Penned In The Margins, for my gifted proof copy in exchange for a review.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

Published by Headline

Available from all Good Bookshops and Online

What They Say

Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own. . . shell.

Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, an excellent trivia team and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book. 

So when the father she never knew existed dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! She’ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. 

And if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny and interested in getting to know her…

It’s time for Nina to turn her own fresh page, and find out if real life can ever live up to fiction. . .

What I Say

“Biology is not destiny, and love is not proportionate to shared DNA.”

This is the final novel I have to review for the Comedy Women In Print Shadow Panel, and apart from it having been an absolutely brilliant experience, and opening my eyes to lots of different authors, it has also challenged my preconceptions of what a ‘comedy’ novel is.

In judging this shortlist, sometimes it is a scene or a description, a character or an incident, or even the words that are used at a particular time.

Nina Hill sparkles because of her wit and smart one liners – her ability to comment with the perfect line with perfect timing means this novel zings off the page. If I was to tell you that I could absolutely see it being made into a film, and that it would be one of those quirky romantic comedies that I am a complete sucker for (When Harry Met Sally anyone?) does it sound intriguing?

Nina works in Knights Bookshop and manages her day to day life by writing copious to do lists. While this seems an endearing trait, it is also a way for her to control her anxiety, and gives her a focus. She feels that this way she can compartmentalise and cope with the world outside her apartment and at her job. I thought it was really interesting to see how Nina’s anxiety is portrayed, and that in making it a part of the main character it brings it to the forefront of the story, whilst at the same time it is dealt with in such a way that it deepened my understanding of how crippling anxiety can be.

What is evident from the writing in this book is how much love Abbi Waxman has for books, reading and bookshops. She absolutely understand the joy it brings so many people (myself included!)! I found myself nodding along as she describes the joy Nina gets from her job, from finding books for readers, to setting up all the different clubs and events, and the genuine delight she has when she helps children engage with books.

Nina is seemingly contented, living with her cat Phil, and filling her days with work, and her evenings attending book groups and taking part in quizzes with her team. Nina’s mother is a photographer who has assignments all around the world, checking in with Nina as and when she can. We learn that Nina considers her Nanny Louise her real mother, and Abbi deftly shows the reader how sometimes the strongest bonds are not necessarily blood ones.

One day, Nina’s life is changed forever when she is told the father she never knew has passed away, and she now has a rather large and complicated family who live tantalisingly close to her. Nina discovers that her father was married multiple times until his death and she has inherited a whole family. Bursting into her life is a new and opinionated family, a plethora of brothers, sisters, step mothers and cousins. As she starts to meet them, Nina realises that maybe her way of living is not the only way if she could just start to have a little more confidence.

Alongside this, Nina is in denial about her attraction to Tom, a member of a rival quiz team – who she can’t stop bumping in to and absolutely everyone can see they are meant to be together. It’s just that Nina and Tom can’t.

After Nina attends the reading of the will, she starts to learn about who her father really was. Everyone has a different relationship and perception of him, and Nina has to try and fit together these very different snapshots of a man she never knew. As Nina spends more time with her family, she starts to see how some of them have similar traits to her, and Nina starts to understand that this group of strangers might become the very family she has needed for so long.

The different family members are captured perfectly, and I thought the way in which they react to Nina and deal with this stranger coming into their lives was dealt with so well. Some embrace her instantly, some are reserved, and one (Lydia) decides that Nina is out for all she can get- but I liked them all!

When Nina discovers that her beloved Knights Bookshop is threatened with closure as Liz the owner hasn’t been able to pay the rent, Nina has to try and find a way to save it as well as finally admit to herself that she and Tom are destined to be together. It could be that the inheritance from her father could be the very thing that changes her future and finally brings her family together as one.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a novel that is like falling into a huge marshmallow filled with books! It is comforting and sweet, with a heroine who is endearing and kind, characters who are unique and interesting, and is impossible to dislike. It is the perfect novel for losing yourself in entirely. If you are looking for a gritty and action packed novel that is emotionally challenging to read, then this is not your next book. If however you want to read a feel good story about love, new opportunities, families and finding the courage to change your life however scary that may be, then you need to meet Nina Hill very soon.

Beth O’Leary:  The Flatshare

Published By: Quercus Books

Buy It: here

 

What They Say: 

Tiffy and Leon share a flat

Tiffy and Leon share a bed

Tiffy and Leon have never met…

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

What I Say

I have a little confession to make here, seeing as I am (hopefully) amongst friends. Unlike the other books on the Comedy Women In Print Novel Shortlist, I read and loved The Flatshare when it originally came out.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, and being completely honest with you, I loved writing this review, and although it is a very different style from what I normally do, I am proud of it. I wrote it as soon as I had read it, and every word came straight from the heart. The Flatshare is the sort of novel that makes you believe in love, joy and happiness and heaven knows we need it at the moment..

Tiffy Moore has just dumped an awful boyfriend called Justin.

Tiffy works at a publishing house and Leon is a Palliative care nurse.

Tiffy has a scatty client called Katherin, who is just about to hit the big time with her book about crocheting, and she needs Tiffy just as much as Tiffy needs her.

Tiffy decides to rent half of Leon Twomey’s bed.

Tiffy is at work when Leon isn’t and vice versa.

Tiffy starts to leave post it notes for Leon, little ones at first, longer ones as they start to communicate.

Leon starts to learn about Tiffy from the notes she leaves him, and Tiffy starts to learn about Leon, and they start to cook and look out for each other.

Leon has a brother called Ritchie who is in prison for an armed robbery he says he didn’t do, and is waiting for his uselesss lawyer to speed up his appeal.

Leon nurses a man called Mr Prior who was in love with a man during World War II and before he passes away, Leon wants him to be reunited with the love of his life.

Leon and Tiffy start to edge closer to each other, realising that they are attracted to each other.

Leon and Tiffy go to Brighton to find Mr Prior’s Mr White, Tiffy hurts her ankle and Leon and Tiffy spend the night together… but nothing happens.

Leon and Tiffy return back to their flat, and suddenly everything has changed between them.

Their Flatshare is no longer as uncomplicated as it should have been, as more things happen and other people get involved.

Leon and Tiffy realise that sometimes, you have to take chances and go beyond what you have accepted for so long, to understand you are worth so much more.

Leon has to try to open his heart and life up to the things he has tried to run away from, to finally find the happiness he deserves.

Tiffy has to realise that the man of her dreams is not the one who controls her every move, and that she has to believe in herself to really find the love she deserves.

Leon and Tiffy are relatable, flawed and fully formed characters who will come into your lives and are impossible to forget.

Leon and Tiffy share the novel with their unique voices and viewpoints, and the story moves along at a perfect pace, filled with normal friends like Mo, Gerty and Rachel.

The Flatshare is the novel we all need to read, especially now when we have been dealing with the strangest and most unfathomable times. It is a gorgeous, joyous, unapologetic, heartfelt book that is impossible to put down, and even harder to forget.

The Flatshare is a novel that restores your faith in people and in love and that sometimes it can come when you least expect it.

The Flatshare shows that you can read a romantic, comedic novel that will turn all the cliches on its head, but at the same time it is whip-smart, genuinely funny, and made me wish I had a Leon of my own in my life.

Beth O’ Leary has written a novel that I absolutely loved, cannot stop recommending, and was just what I needed to read.

Tiffy and Leon share a flat.

Tiffy and Leon share a bed.

Tiffy and Leon finally meet.

Tiffy and Leon’s story is The Flatshare.

I am so glad that I met them, and I think you will be too.

 

All Adults Here by Emma Straub

Published by Penguin Michael Joseph

Available from all Good Bookshops and Online

 

What They Say..

Coming of age isn’t just for kids.

Astrid Strick has always tried to do her best for her three children. Now, they’re finally grown up – but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

Elliott doesn’t have any idea who he really is, or how to communicate with his own sons. Porter is, at last, pregnant – but feels incapable of rising to the challenge. Nicky has fled to distant New Mexico, where he’s living the bohemian dream.

And Astrid herself is up to things that would make her children’s hair curl.

Until now, the family have managed to hide their true selves from each other. But when Nicky’s incorrigibly curious daughter Cecelia comes to stay, her arrival threatens to upturn everything . . .

What I Say

Let me start this blog post by making a confession to you all.  I had never read any Emma Straub before All Adults Here. If I tell you that during reading it I had to tell Gaby at Michael Joseph how brilliant it is, and that I have just ordered Emma’s novel Modern Lovers, that should give you some indication as to how much I loved this book. I was also going to do a video review for this blog tour, but after several (five) failed attempts, it seems that the only way I can articulate how much I loved this novel is to write it down.

Why did All Adults Here resonate so much with me so quickly? I just loved the characters in this novel. Emma’s skill in her writing is that she builds up a world where you can vividly see them as they are if they are existing in ours. Every page adds another layer of understanding and connection between Astrid Strick and her children.  They do things that all of us do – the everyday and mundane, they worry about each other, and often try to find the right words to talk to each other too, whilst all the time trying to navigate their way through their own lives the best they can.

Astrid is the matriarch of the family, and having lost her husband Russell a while ago, she is starting to realise that although she loved him, perhaps it is only now that she can really start to be herself as oppose to a wife and a mother.  Her children, Porter, Elliott and Nicky have all made lives for themselves, but perhaps not in the way that Astrid would have expected. Porter, desperate for a child has decided to use a sperm donor to ensure she becomes a mother. Elliott is married to Wendy, and they have twin sons – but Elliott is finding it hard to adapt to fatherhood, and he and Wendy are struggling to communicate.  Nicky and his wife Juliette and their daughter Cecelia haven’t seen Astrid for a while, and after Cecelia is bullied for protecting her classmate from a man they met on the internet, the decision is made to send Cecelia to live with Astrid for a while to give her the distance and stability she needs. It is interesting to see how when Cecelia is away from her parents and free to be who she wants, that she not only finds her voice again, but also makes a friendship with August that will change their lives for ever.

This is what worked so well for me about All Adults Here.  The children may have grown up, but they still need care and reassurance from Astrid.  When Astrid witnesses the death of her friend Barbara, she realises life is too short and decides to make certain decisions about her future that cause different reactions in each of her children – including telling them that she is in a relationship with her female hairdresser called Birdie. Astrid also realises she has not been the best mother to her children, and that she needs to address this with each of her children – but especially Elliott before it is too late.

For me, the novel also unflinchingly addressed many issues in an engaging and emotional way- there is adultery, the notion of parenting and motherhood, gender and sexuality, and ultimately how difficult it can be to stand up and tell people how you really feel, and what you really want – however old you are. It is touching to see Astrid attempt to reach her children by being open, but also to see how each child struggles with the different recollections of their childhood and relationship with their parents and each other too. Little by little, we learn not only about Astrid and her past, but each character is given the chance to absolutely come into their own, and we can start to understand why they behave as they do.

If you are looking for a novel packed with twists and revelations, then All Adults Here is probably not for you. I am a huge fan of novels about families – and for me, the more dysfunctional the better! Astrid, Porter, Elliot, Nicky, but especially for me Cecelia, are beautifully written characters, whose lives may seem far from our own, but just like us they have the same worries and concerns, and that is what makes this novel so special.

Emma Straub’s writing is tender, nuanced and understated, which packs such an emotional punch when you least expect it. I could have quite happily spent far more time with this family – and would love to see a sequel..!

All Adults Here is an intelligent and sensitive novel, that recognises we all may lead seemingly disparate and different lives, but understands absolutely that at the end of the day, our greatest need is to feel that we belong somewhere and with someone.

I absolutely loved it.

Thank you so much to Gaby Young at Michael Joseph for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review and a place on the Blog Tour.

Please do check out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying too..

Break These Chains by Kirsteen Stewart

Published By White Fox Publishing

Available from all good Bookshops and online

What They Say.

London.
1965.
It is not all wonder and delight.

Serious, violet-eyed 19-year-old Lydia is scared of love and passion, handicapped by the secrets and trauma of her childhood on the Solway Firth. But she is ready for real life to begin.

In a world before the pill, her defences are tested when she falls in love with a sports car mechanic, part of a smart, shady circle. Weaving her uncertain way through the glittering opportunities and pitfalls of a changing society, the old-fashioned values of her doting grandmother and her serious civil service job, it is when Lydia inherits a brasserie in run-down Notting Hill that her journey really begins.

But can she find her way through love and loss, family secrets and the first stirrings of feminism?

What I Say.

I saw a picture of Break These Chains by Kirsteen Stewart from White Fox Publishing, and read that it was all about a young woman in London in the Sixties trying to find her own identity in a world that was in a great state of change. I have to tell you that I was absolutely drawn to it straight away – not to mention the fabulous cover!

Fortunately, the lovely people at White Fox Publishing very kindly agreed to send me a copy, and I am so very glad that they did.

Lydia is a young girl who has had to deal with an absent father and a disconnected and hostile mother in the Solway Firth. When her mother is unable to cope with Lydia, but seemingly cannot stop looking for relationships with a number of unsuitable men, her Grandmother Eveline steps in and takes over. Lydia is sent to spend her childhood with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Edmund. When she is accepted to University, Lydia is suspended after she bites another student for taunting her about her mother.

Eveline decides that the only thing to be done is for her to take charge of Lydia’s wellbeing, and is determined that she should follow what is expected of her and find a nice young man to marry and settle down with.

The only thing is that no one has actually asked Lydia what she wants. A sympathetic University tutor secures an interview for Lydia at the Department of Education, and she decides that working there temporarily has to be better than simply settling for a life limited by the social aspirations of her family.

What is so refreshing about Kirsteen’s writing is not only do you absolutely feel you are seeing and feeling the whole world around you due to the evocative descriptions of the Sixties, but that Lydia’s frustration at being shaped into a role she doesn’t want is always right at the heart of the narrative.

Lydia meets her former University friend Fred, as he is released from prison for theft. Standing right next to her are Dave and Marcus – two of Fred’s friends. They are part of the London social scene that has eluded Lydia for so long, and along with their friend Auriol, she suddenly realises how much the world has to offer beyond the confines of her Grandmother’s world. Marcus and Lydia start a relationship, and his job as a sports car mechanic to the rich and famous means that Lydia gets the chance to travel with him and finally experience life.

At the same time, Eveline has met a young playwright called Arthur Shawcross outside a theatre, and slowly they embark on an unexpected and mutually beneficial friendship. Arthur finds a mother figure who can give him the reassurance and guidance he needs, while Eveline starts to confide in Arthur about the complicated and challenging secrets of her family. As they grow closer, little by little, Eveline starts to understand the way in which the world around her is changing and understands it is not as foreboding as she believed. She also asks Arthur to write a play about her family, and gives him access to all her family documents and correspondence, with Lydia as an integral part to the plot.

When Eveline passes away, her family is shocked to hear that Lydia is left a brasserie in Notting Hill. No one knew that it was part of the family property portfolio and are even more confused as to why she has left it to Lydia. This is a huge decision for Lydia. Although she and Marcus are in love, he has moved home to look after his late father’s farm and wants her there with him.

The thing is, now Lydia finally has the chance to shape her own future and find her own identity free from the constraints of her family.

Break These Chains is a clever and engaging story of a time that doesn’t seem so long ago, but was a very different world for young women. Their identity and self worth is inextricably linked with how much they conform to what is expected of them, and for those, like Lydia who choose to make their own decisions, are regarded with disdain and treated with suspicion.

There is also the idea of women belonging to men and being reliant on them too throughout the novel. Marcus loves Lydia, but he lays down the rules for their relationship, he buys the clothes for the way he wants her to dress, and he becomes resentful when she doesn’t spend enough time with him at the farm – although we learn why later on in the novel. Lydia’s boss at the Department of Education believes she has the potential and intelligence to progress in her career – with a caveat that if she is ‘nice’ to him, he can put in a word for her. This is the underlying notion of Break These Chains – it might be a man’s world, but can Lydia find the self belief and determination to do what she wants as oppose to what society expects.

Break These Chains was a revelation for me, in terms of the fact that not only did the perfect descriptions make me love London even more, but really brought home not only how far we have come in terms of women’s rights, but also how much further we have to go. You cannot help but like and admire Lydia and Eveline, both who may be separated by their generations and outlook, but are in reality far more alike than they could imagine. It is a love letter to both the Sixties and to the women who were determined to ensure future generations are finally able to be in charge of their own destinies.

Thank you very much to White Fox Publishing and Kirsteen Stewart for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent

Available from all good Bookshops and Online

Published by Penguin Ireland

What They Say

Three brothers are at the funeral. One lies in the coffin.

Will, Brian and Luke grow up competing for their mother’s unequal love. As men, the competition continues – for status, money, fame, women …

They each betray each other, over and over, until one of them is dead.

But which brother killed him?

What I Say

Let me say straight from the start of this review, as I am all for honesty, that I am a total Liz Nugent fan. Ever since I read Unravelling Oliver, I have waited patiently for her next novel, and Skin Deep is one of my favourite novels which I recommend endlessly.

Why is any of this remotely relevant? In my honest opinion, Our Little Cruelties is even better. That’s a bold statement to make, but trust me, once you have had the pleasure of meeting the Drumm brothers and the world of chaos that they inhabit, you will undoubtedly understand why.

The novel starts with a funeral, and we know from the start that it’s either Will, Luke or Brian inside the coffin. That is a striking and engaging introduction to these brothers, as of course we immediately want to know which one of them doesn’t make it to the end of the book – and why.

It’s also important to tell you just how complex and interesting each of them are, and as the story progresses, my reaction to each of them swapped constantly as more of their lives were revealed. Make no mistake, the Drumm brothers may be by turns charming, engaging and driven, but they are all self-serving and narcissistic too.

The novel is split into three sections- one for each of the brothers – Will, Luke and Brian and their families. As we follow each section, not only does the narrative move forward and backwards in time, we also hear sometimes three different versions of the same event, told from the unique perspective of each brother. In doing this, Liz Nugent cleverly disorientates and unnerves us as readers- who do you trust when the stories you are presented with shift and take your allegiances with it?

All the time, ever present in the fabric of their patchwork lives is their mother. Will is undoubtedly her favourite, Brian is tolerated, but it is Luke who bears the brunt of her anger and frustration. Melissa is an absolute force of nature, a woman who is a celebrity singer and star of TV Soap, and she seems to resent having to look after her children unless they are lavishing her with love and attention. If you thought Cordelia in Skin Deep was a force to be reckoned with, Melissa takes it to a whole new nightmarish level!

As you get further and further into the Drumm brothers history – which goes right from their childhood to the funeral at the start of the novel, you not only learn about the character and their lives, but also how their very distinct personalities mean that they, like their mother, think only of themselves and what they can gain from any situation. Will may be a successful film producer, but he uses those around him -especially the women in his life to make sure he is always at the top of his game. Luke discovers a talent for music and becomes a pop star, and he seems to be totally overwhelmed by all the attention and trappings that it brings – and slides into a life of drugs and drinks, with little regard for anyone else. Even when Luke seems to be Will’s saviour after Will is diagnosed as HIV positive, Luke is only doing it so Will can repay him by getting him a part in a film.  Meanwhile, after Brian’s life as a teacher is brought to an abrupt end, he decides to appoint himself as Luke’s manager- whilst at the same time siphoning off plenty of money for himself, and moving into Luke’s mansion.

This is the joyous dilemma for us as readers – we should be appalled by the way in which the Drumm brothers treat each other, but the constant narrative shifts mean that just when we start to sympathise with one of them, to see the same events from another perspective means we never really know who is being truthful.

The women in the brother’s lives also form an important part of the story, and they are not relegated to simply being Will’s wife, or Luke’s girlfriend. Susan, Mary and Daisy – (who is Will and Susan’s daughter) are absolutely integral to the plot at all times, and they become part of the brothers lives and are linked to all of them in numerous ways.  Susan is married to Will, but Brian has always been in love with her, and he is sure that he, not Will fathered Daisy after their one night stand. Mary had an affair with Will, and then she and Luke fall in love, and this is always in the background, not to mention a woman called Kate who Luke was due to have a baby with – until Will realised she was one of his conquests too, and he could not risk her telling his wife.

Daisy for me was a really interesting and understated character.  Although she is absolutely central to the plot – most notably as Will and Brian come to blows over who her father is, she grows in significance as she gets older.  As she finds her voice, we also realise that like her Uncle Luke, she has many demons to deal with, and as other people seek to disregard her, they become more and more vocal.

This is the glorious, entertwined, twisted and devilish world of Our Little Cruelties – every page brings a new revelation, a new way the Drumm brothers are closer than they could ever imagine. We as readers can only stand back and watch as their lives crash into each other and implode in a way we could never ever imagine.

You can probably tell how much I loved Our Little Cruelties, and it is absolutely going to be one of my #MostSelfishReads2020. Seeing as we won’t be able to go out anywhere anytime soon, I can’t think of a better book to treat yourself to, and trust me, you won’t be able to put it down..

If you are looking for a cosy story of family bonds and brotherhood, Our Little Cruelties is probably not the novel you are looking for. If however, you are looking for an absolute masterclass in a taut, psychological thriller that explores what people will do to ensure they get what they want, this book should absolutely be on your reading pile. Liz Nugent’s insight and understanding of the depths that people will sink to in order to ensure that they will survive are just perfect, and the fact that you are attracted to and repelled by each brother in turn are testament to her absolute sublime skill as a writer.

Thank you so much to Jane Gentle and Ellie Hudson for my gifted copy and my chance to be part of this Blog Tour in exchange for an honest review.

Please do check out what my fabulous fellow Bloggers are saying too..

The Book of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka

Published by Doubleday Books on 27th February

Available from All Good Bookshops and Online

 

What They Say

Narrated by the spirit of an enslaved African, this is a searing debut about hope, redemption and the scars of history.

Over two hundred years ago in Africa, a woman tosses her young son to safety as she is hauled off by slavers. After a brutal sea passage, her second child is snatched away. Although the woman doesn’t know it yet, her spirit is destined to roam the earth in search of her lost children.

It will make its way to 1980s Brixton, where she watches teenage Michael attempt to stay out of trouble as riots spit and boil onthe streets; and to a poor village in Nigeria, where Ngozi struggles to better her life..

As the invisible threads that draw these two together are pulled ever tighter, The Book of Echoes asks: how can we overcome the traumas of the past when they are woven so inextricably with the present? Humming with horror and beauty, Rosanna Amaka’s remarkable debut marks her as a vibrant new voice in fiction.

What I Say 

‘Unknowingly being passed down a baton of scars because their job was to survive, to hand on the baton in the hope of a better tomorrow, for the next generation to make it better than it was’.

Hand on heart, I had seen this novel, and I thought it wasn’t for me. I am trying to be more responsible and only request proofs I know I am going to read and review, because I don’t feel it’s right to ask for them if they are just going to sit on my shelf.

When Tabitha from Doubleday asked me if I would be interesting in reading and reviewing My Book of Echoes, I read the blurb again, and thought the dual narrative, and the notion of two seemingly disparate lives tentatively connected was one I would like to explore.

Twenty pages in, I sent Tabitha a DM:

‘Tabitha! The Book of Echoes! Oh My Goodness!!’

That’s quite a statement for a book I wasn’t sure about, but I mean every word – and even more so when I tell you that this book is going on my #MostSelfishReads2020 List.

The novel starts with an unnamed pregnant female narrator arriving at the West India Docks in London in 1803 after having been stowed away in the ship with many other people, suffering inhumane conditions. Wind, a sailor and former slave, pulls the Narrator out of the ship where she is forced to leave and gives birth to a child who is taken from her immediately. She then appears as a spirit that is present throughout the pages, as she weaves her way through the world as an all seeing presence.

The Book of Echoes is also the story of Ngozi and Michael. Ngozi is a young woman in Nigeria, who knows that the only way she will find a better way of life is to leave her family behind, and provide for them from afar.  She is a valuable commodity, an object that can be bought and sold, but her mother does this reluctantly. Ngozi has to leave in order for her family to survive, and to be perceived as a good daughter she has to acquiesce to what they need.

When an horrific tragedy befalls the first family she is sent to, Ngozi is left to fend for herself, and she ends up with the Osindu family where she is targetted by both the mother and father in equally awful and extremely distressing ways.

As Ngozi gets older, she realises that her body and sexuality which has been used by others to get what they want from her, is now the very thing she can use against them to get what she wants.

Michael lives miles away from Ngozi, in Brixton, where he, his mother and his sister Marcia are existing as a family unit. That is until one day, Michael’s mother is murdered at their home, and his whole world is turned upside down.  He and Marcia have to go and live with their aunt and uncle, and suddenly everything they ever knew is turned on its head.  Michael is determined to care for his younger sister, but he needs to earn money and fast. After seeing his school friend Devon, who is doing really well for himself he decides that working as a courier for Devon’s boss Tom, is the way to ensure he can pacify the social services and give him the income he needs in order that he is able to care for his sister.

Set against the backdrop of the Brixton riots, and the racial tension which seeps through the pages of Michael’s story, there is always the sense in Rosanna’s writing that Michael’s journey is about to get a lot more complicated. When Devon is accused of not delivering the packages (which it transpires should have contained drugs), Michael is caught up in the ensuing fight and Devon is killed.  Michael is found guilty of his murder and is sent to prison for three years.  He emerges a changed man, weary of the world and unable to see his place in it, which drives him to his lowest point until his sister Marcia helps him see that life really is worth living.

Ngozi meanwhile is learning exactly how to get what she wants by flirting with the business men who come to the bank where she is an assistant.  They are enchanted by this beautiful woman who is quick witted, beautiful and intelligent, while Ngozi is absolutely aware that by using this, she can escape the world she is desperate to leave behind.  When she meets Ben McDonald, a businessman from Scotland, they embark on a relationship which gives Ngozi a home and a social standing of sorts, but she and Ben are still seen as outsiders and are regarded with suspicion and excluded from the social world around them.

Ben regularly returns to Scotland, and refuses to tell her why. It is only when Ngozi discovers that she is pregnant does Ben reveal the truth about his life to her. Convinced she can get him to stay with her, she decides to go to Ben’s home and confront his wife, which results in Ngozi losing the baby and realising she is totally alone. Ngozi is ostracised again, and finds herself in London, alone and looking for work.

Ngozi and Michael, in spite of the experiences they have both been through are resilient and determined that they will ensure that from now on their lives will be very different. Ngozi finds success in designing successful software, and Michael’s talents lie in renovating and selling houses.

Little by little, in tantalising steps, Rosanna brings Ngozi and Michael closer, until they meet, and their life together pulls the novel even futher through history as we see what happens to them. What was also interesting for me, was the character of Marcia, Michael’s sister, who has had to deal with witnessing her Mum’s murder, the imprisonment of her brother, and the estrangement from her other brother too.

However, her intelligence and drive means that from a very early age Marcia is determined to make sure she is the force for change in her family, and she has to learn to suppress the enormity of what she has seen in order to function. Until one day, when it all becomes too much, and she now has to rely on the family to help her – and they realise exactly what Marcia has endured. For me, Marcia was a really interesting character, she has so much quiet presence and determination, and was a woman who you felt really had dealt with so much with dignity and perseverance.

As a reader, it is impossible not to be swept along with the scope and ambition of the plot. Having the nameless narrator as the link through the book just works so beautifully, because it brings the reader right into the narrative – I felt that I was there with her, as an observer on Ngozi and Michael’s world. The prose and descriptions are perfect, as you feel totally immersed in the landscape and history, and it also taught me so much about lives I had no experience of.

The Book of Echoes is a raw, brutal and tender story which is uncompromising in its portrayal of the realities of life for Ngozi and Michael. It is unflinching and heartbreaking, told without compromise, but at the heart of it, are the souls of Michael and Ngozi, whose seemingly disparate lives fit together so seamlessly, that there could only ever have been one ending.

I absolutely loved it.

Thank you so much to Tabitha Pelly for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.