K A Hitchins

K. A. Hitchins has written a powerful story whose characters, setting (a wintry Suffolk) and premise will stay with you a long time after you have finished. I was particularly impressed that Hitchins - a female - wrote the character of Vincent - a financial salesman whose life as he knows it collapses underneath him - in the first person, and we are presented with a distinctive viewpoint that is unmistakably male.

It is a love-story, but an atypical one, with Vincent's love interest being a young woman, Sarah, with Asperger's Syndrome, whose total frankness about herself and her insight into Vincent's own mindset is at first disconcerting but eventually highly refreshing to him. The story is filled with humour and pathos, littered with unforgettable incidents, and all written in Kitchin's sharply lyrical prose.… (más)

Vince thinks he has it all. A great job in the city, a gorgeous girlfriend, lots of friends and an amazing social life. Everything changes when he is fired from his job, his girlfriend dumps him and he is forced to move back to live with his parents in their home in the small town he grew up in. He thinks that getting a new job will be easy but soon realises that things may not go his own way.

Back home he meets up with two people he knew in childhood. Jimmy was his drinking companion and they soon fall back into the old routine of going out, getting drunk and suffering hangovers. His relationship with Sarah though is far from straightforward. He meets her while walking the family dog and she's walking her dog. It soon becomes clear that she isn't like other people, she is frank often to the point of seeming rude and isn't impressed by Vince's previous high-flying job.

It took me several attempts to get into this book and almost gave up ( which is why it only gets four stars), but I'm very glad I persevered. The book challenges how we react to others who are different to us and we go on a journey of self-discovery with Vince.

This is a beautiful story again from an amazing author. Through her use of language she makes the reader think about why someone like Sarah is ostracised by others and whether Vince can develop a friendship with her when he is so different from her.

Through glimpses into their schooldays we learn how Sarah dropped out of school suddenly and how this impacted on her whold life until being left on her own to cope with a world which doesn't understand her.

I like that the book isn't filled with easy platitudes and doesn't attempt to solve everyone's issues but seems very realistic in how it develops and ultimately ends.

I received this book from Instant Apostle in exchange for my own review.… (más)

Tilda Moss is an eminent scientist and wakes up in her hospital bed after a fall at home but was it an accident or deliberate and if so who was the perpetrator?

She soon realises that although she can see and hear all that is going on around her she cannot move at all or interact with the people who visit daily.

The story is told from her perspective as she tries to work through how she ended up in a hospital bed and the motives of her friends and family. From her bereft father and brother to her flatmate Kikki but where is Michael her secret lover and who is the mysterious Allegra who no-one seems to know. Throw in espionage at work and you have the makings of a first-class thriller.

Writing from Tilda's viewpoint is an inteesting literary tool and it works well as the reader wills her on to make everyone see that she is still there. As she remembers her life with Michael we see a different side to her from the scientist who cares only for her work. They discuss many things about her work and whether life ends when we die as Tilda is an avowed atheist while Michael is trying to find the answer fo himself.

there were many moments when I didn't predict what was going to happen with the story and the ending had me in tears which doesn't happen often.

This is a book which will stay with me for some time and I will re-read at some point. Suitable fo people with faith or without it will be hard to beat as my read of the year.

I got this book fo free from Instant Apostle in exchange for my own review.… (más)