depressing drivel
If you ever feel you are too happy this is the book for you! Badly written two-dimensional stereotypical characters in a totally depressing story. Do not recommend at all

Wonderful
This is a book that breaks your heart and makes you ache for Lewis. The writing is perfect, as restrained as the decade in which its set, and yet it keeps you turning the pages rather than wallowing.

The characters are all beautifully drawn, the love story delicate and touching, and while not wanting to spoil the ending I can say that it is ultimately uplifting.

It's a book that lives on long after you've finished reading.

Highly recommended.

Excellent read - a dark and well written story which draws the reader in and keeps them there !
I loved this book which held my attention throughout. The dark and riveting story line set in the 1950's, plus the author's superb descriptive writing made it compelling. Being a child of the 50's myself I was astonished how the author who was born in 1967 could capture so accurately the "stiff upper lip" and "children should be seen and not heard" atmosphere which prevailed then together with other details from the era. The author held the suspense throughout the book and you never knew quite what was going to happen next. A remarkable book and one I will remember.

Loved it...
I fell upon this novel quite by chance and to be honest had put off reading it, I thought it sounded depressing.
And to be fair, it was a bit! However, I think it's also wonderfully written - by far it's greatest asset is a simplistic style of prose that flows beautifully without the pretentiousness of a lot of novels deemeed to be of 'award standard'.

Lewis, the central character, is entirely unique and though not exactly loveable, he got under my skin. I cared about what happened to him. Melodramatic and over the top in parts, he seemed to keep stumbling into bad luck after bad luck which really had me rooting for him. His useless, weak, father - the epitome of the fathers of this generation I imagine - just didn't 'get' him at all and his step-mother 'got' him a little too well... A recipe for disaster (again)
Exciting, entirely readable and thoroughly enjoyable - I cannot wait for her next novel...

Disturbing, but draws you in!
Lewis arrives back from prison in 1957 now at the age of 19 and of course that has me wondering what he went to prison for. Time then reverts back to a much younger Lewis and follows his childhood tales which include an extremely traumatic event, which changes Lewis to a quiet, withdrawn little boy that it appears nobody really understands.

The book moves forward in time and we find out why Lewis was in prison. Lewis appears lost with himself and with the opposite sex, but is drawn to differing girls/women that may be able to fill a small part of his needs. Lewis' family and their neighbours are very much central to the story and they all seem to carry so many demons within them. Kit is a neighbouring young girl that has always been drawn to Lewis and she feels she understands him the most, but he tends to cast her aside as he feels she is not for him. The community in general takes against Lewis for various reasons and Lewis feels in some way he must fight back after hurting himself physically and mentally for so long.

I found this a very difficult book to describe in terms of what happens as I didn't want to give away any spoilers, as I feel it's a book that just needs to be read and absorbed. One cannot help feel so sorry for Lewis and want to shake everybody around him so that they can see what he is going through. However everyone in the book does appear to be suffering in various ways. I feel that this was an exceptionally well written novel that is dark, disturbing, distressing and depressing, but at the same time a most wonderful, colourful, absorbing read. As I was reading it I felt things were going from bad to worse and it seemed as if Lewis was doomed to fail in anything he tried to achieve. For me it was a book that had me desperate to find out what happened next and was very difficult to put down. I was absolutely amazed to find that this was the author's debut book, will definitely look out for the next.

Read this book - I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

Hide Reviews